Pyramids? In Wisconsin?
Since my b-i-l made the trip to La Crosse this weekend, the hubby and I had a free Saturday. He sleeps in pretty late these days (he is working 2:30-11pm), so we didn't leave home until mid-afternoon, but the day was perfect for an excursion. We'd been meaning to visit Aztalan for a few years now, so we finally went.
For those who are not aware, Aztalan State Park is the site of a Mississippian village that was occupied from roughly 900-1300 AD. The stockade has been rebuilt using the original post holes. Excavations are still underway in the residential area along the river (we saw several archaeologists working there). The large platform mound has been restored, and it is impressive.
My husband is highly entertained by crackpot theories (and enjoys spinning them himself), so he was delighted to see a replica of a Mississippian clay pot in the visitor center that was decorated with a double-spiral pattern. Similar patterns were used in some of the ancient cycladic pottery we saw in the museum on Santorini, so he joked about Aztalan being built by refugees from Atlantis. As it turns out, there are actually crackpots who seriously believe in an ancient Old World connection to the area and, unsurprisingly, they have a website dedicated to their theory.
For those who are not aware, Aztalan State Park is the site of a Mississippian village that was occupied from roughly 900-1300 AD. The stockade has been rebuilt using the original post holes. Excavations are still underway in the residential area along the river (we saw several archaeologists working there). The large platform mound has been restored, and it is impressive.
My husband is highly entertained by crackpot theories (and enjoys spinning them himself), so he was delighted to see a replica of a Mississippian clay pot in the visitor center that was decorated with a double-spiral pattern. Similar patterns were used in some of the ancient cycladic pottery we saw in the museum on Santorini, so he joked about Aztalan being built by refugees from Atlantis. As it turns out, there are actually crackpots who seriously believe in an ancient Old World connection to the area and, unsurprisingly, they have a website dedicated to their theory.