Aztalan celebrates 75th anniversary as a park

Considered Wisconsin’s largest and most important archeological site

LAKE MILLS, Wis. -- The public will have an opportunity on Sunday, Oct. 19, to help celebrate the 75th anniversary of the designation of Aztalan -- one of Wisconsin’s most important archeological sites -- as a park.

Aztalan State Park is located on the banks of the Rock River in eastern Jefferson County, about 3 miles east of Lake Mills. The park contains the archaeological sites of an ancient Middle-Mississippian village and ceremonial complex that thrived between 1000 and 1300 A.D. The 172-acre park is a registered national landmark and is regarded as Wisconsin's largest and most important archaeological site.

For the celebration, photos from the park’s dedication on Oct. 20, 1928, as well as archived photos from excavations in the 1920s and 30s will be on display. Event organizers are also looking for anyone who might identify the local people in the early photos, and who can share oral histories of the park that may have been passed down. Volunteers will be on hand to tape recollections of the early days at Aztalan.

Aztalan’s beginnings as a park date back to 1922, when a group of concerned Jefferson citizens purchased the few conical mounds remaining from a cluster that once numbered more than 40. At that time, the property was called Mounds Park. In 1927 the property was turned over to the Wisconsin Archaeological Society, and a formal dedication took place on Oct. 20, 1928. The park was converted to a State Park in 1952.

Archaeologists theorize that the occupants may have cultural traditions in common with Cahokia, a large Middle-Mississippian settlement near East St. Louis, Illinois, according to Tom Davies, a Department of Natural Resources educator located at Aztalan State Park.

The people who settled Aztalan built large, flat-topped pyramidal mounds and a stockade around their village, Davies says. They hunted, fished, and farmed on the floodplain of the Crawfish River.

Portions of the stockade have been reconstructed in their original locations, indicating that the village was about 17 acres in size. The largest of three mounds within the village was restored in 1951. It is 40 feet wide and 25 feet high, with a flat top and terraced sides. One of two smaller mounds also contained a crematorium. There were burial mounds outside the palisade, including one of an Indian princess, a woman in her early 20s when she died.

The 75th anniversary celebration takes place from 1 to 3 p.m., and is being held in conjunction with the closing of a Midwest Archaeological Conference being held in Milwaukee Oct. 16-19. The celebration is sponsored by the Wisconsin DNR, the Milwaukee Public Museum, and Michigan State University – Department of Anthropology. All events take place adjacent to the last parking lot (follow the park road to the end).

The celebration will include site tours by archaeologists who have worked at Aztalan, and pictures from the Milwaukee Public Museum archived from the time of the original park dedication, as well as from early excavations. There will also be a display of artifacts found by Samuel A. Barrett in the early 1920s and 30s, many of which have not been previously displayed.

Davies says the park is also hoping any people who attended the first park dedication will attend, and may be able to identify people in the pictures, or if they remember Barrett’s or other excavations, be able to provide an oral history that will be recorded for posterity.

“Some of what people recall may help us better understand portions of the site,” Davies says.

Maps and plans of recent archaeological work at the site, with explanations and discussions of new findings, will also be on display and some refreshments will be available.

The Department of Natural Resources recently completed a new Master Plan for Aztalan. The plan took more than two years to finish, and included the input of professional archaeologists, local residents, politicians, Native American tribes, and other interested members of the public. The goals of the plan include expanding the park and developing the site as a major interpretive location for Native American cultures. Information on the master plan will also be on display at the celebration.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Tom Davies - (920) 648-8774

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