Real Name: Thoth

Identity/Class: Extradimensional (Heliopolis) god

Distant Past, Pre-Cataclysmic era, Hyborian era, Post-Hyborian era through calender Birth of Christ era;

Occupation: God of Wisdom;
    former ruler of Heliopolis;
    former God of the Moon

Group Membership: Ennead (Heliopolitan gods of Egypt); formerly the Ogdoad (Hermopolitan gods of Egypt)

Affiliations: Hellbent, Karanthes, Keftu, Knights Templar, Rammon, Rammon (son of Rammon);
    formerly worshipped by the Egyptians, and the Nemedians of the Hyborian era

Enemies: Azoth, Jaggta-Noga, Set, Thoth-Amon, unidentified Black Ring sorcerer

Known Relatives: Nun (Demiurge, father), Neith (Gaea, mother),  Ammon Ra (Atum, brother), Seshat (wife), Panther God (Bast, nephew), Bes (nephew), Lion God (Sekhmet, nephew), Shu (nephew), Khonshu (Chons, nephew), Hathor, Tefnut (nieces), Mahes (Apedemak, grandnephew), Geb & Nut (grandnephew and grandniece), Osiris, Seth (great-grandnephews), Isis, Nepthys (great-grandnieces), Anubis, Horus (great-great-grand-nephews), three unidentified sons (may just be creations);
    if the Elder Gods are to be considered siblings, then Chthon, Hyppus, Oshtur, and Set are his uncles and aunt.

Aliases: A, A'an, Asten, Djehuty, God-Bird of Shadow-Haunted Stygia, Hab, Ibis, Ibis the Invincible, Judge of the Two Combatant Gods, Khenti, Lord of Divine Words, Lord of Khemennu, Lord of Ma'at, Mehi, Sheps, Toth

Base of Operations: Temple of Thoth (presumably associated with the realm Celestial Heliopolis);
    previously Hermopolis;
    Born in Khemennu (near modern-day El Ashmunein, Egypt);
    his worshippers had multiple Temples of Ibis, including in Numalia, Nemedia and in Akkhora, Shem; the Nest of Sacred Ibis, a few hours horseback ride from Messantia, Argos, was the primary seat of worship after the Ibis worshippers were driven from Stygia

Education: Extensively self-educated

First Appearance: (Referenced) Captain America Comics#20 (November, 1942);
    (seen; as Ibis) Marvel Feature I#6 (September, 1976);
    (seen; as Thoth) Thor: Blood Oath#6 (February, 2006)

Powers/Abilities: Thoth presumably has the standard godly abilities, such as superhuman strength, durability, etc., as well as extreme longevity (he is at least 12,000 years , if not a million years, old or older), resistance to conventional disease, etc. He is known for his extreme wisdom. At least in the past he had certain abilities related to the moon.
    As Ibis, 10, 000 BC and before (perhaps for hundreds of thousands, or even a million years or more), it would appear that Thoth engaged in some direct combat with beings as powerful as Set, though it may be that he only opposed Set's actions and never actually fought the Elder God. He granted power to such items as the Eye of Ibis and the Staff of Ibis. He may have supplied power to the Book of Thoth, though that may have been a black magic tome that used his name in vain.
    Thoth typically adopts an ibis-headed form when appearing before humans.

Egypt and America

Pyramids...

One of the first things that seem to confirm the diffusionists view are pyramids.
They are found at both sides of the Atlantic Ocean and although mostly they're quite different in design, there's one in present Mexico, reminding me of the pyramids at Gizeh in Egypt: the "Pyramid Of The Sun" in Teotihuacan.

This is in the first place because of the straight forward design, lacking any ornaments. And even more: there's a tunnel underneath the structure. Not a nicely build one, like in Egypt, but more like a rough, hewn (maybe even natural) cave. It is possible, that the pyramid had been build over an much earlier sacred site.

Sceptics argue that the American pyramids are very much unlike the ones in Egypt. This is partially correct: Almost every one (maybe all, I'm not sure) of the well known pyramids in Mesoamerica has steps leading to the top (where usually a small temple was placed) and has no tunnels and chambers inside. In Egypt it is the other way around. Additionaly, the timeframe doesn't fit. The Egyptian pyramids at Gizeh are thought to be build around 2600 - 2500 BC by pharaohs of the 4th dynasty and the majority in America within the first millenium AD. But some facts must not be forgotten:
When we talk pyramids, we usually associate this with the stunning marvels of plain beauty at Gizeh in Egypt, and in America we think of the richly decorated step-pyramids of the Aztecs, Maya and Toltecs. But in Egypt, pyramidbuilding included step-pyramids and continued up to the 17th dynasty and stopped around 1550 BC, and pyramidbuilding in Mesoamerica began much earlier, with the Olmecs. Thanks to the oil industry, nothing of that survived. The Olmec civilization started around 1500 BC, as far as we know now! Additionally, even older pyramids were found in Southamerica, build from adobe bricks by people like the Tucume and the Huaca.

Nonetheless, pyramids may not be a very good example of diffusionism. No real link can be made. The pyramid is a basic geometric shape and the differences in design might be considered too great. A bit harder to explain is the appearance of traces of cocain and nicotine in Egyptian mummies. Since both substances are found in native plants in America but not in Africa (in that time), some researchers think of a possible trade link. If you want the hole story, you can read a transcript of the TV-programme about the Mystery of the Cocaine Mummies (new window).

...and hands

But maybe, they not only "shared a smoke", but also religious ideas? John A. West describes in his book "Serpent in the sky" a phenomenon, that can be found on many Egyptian wallcarvings and -paintings: Some figures have two left hands or two right hands. Take a look:

This pharaoh has two left hands	Closeup of the same picture

West explains it as a sign whether the person in question is in a purely receiving or purely giving position. This pharaoh receives life and power from the two gods beside him, so he is purely receiving and shown with only left hands.

I started looking for these pictures in other books about Ancient Egypt, but after a while I found them also in Mesopotamia, which is not very surprising, giving the relative closeness of the two cultures...

The Babylonian god Marduk

...and then in America. In South America, to be specific.

The first in Cerro Sechin, one of the oldest cultures in that area... (This stone is the only one with that specific feature that I know of, the others seem to have all "regular" hands.)	..and the next in Tiahuanaco, inside the walled complex known as "Calasasaya". As in the previous picture, the (normally) right hand had to be shown from the inside, in order to turn it into a left hand.

But similarities between these ancient cultures don't stop here.

	An often seen feature of Assyrian and Babylonian gods are small "buckets", holding sacred salve, according to the archaeologists explanation.
Again, the first sign of these objects can be found in nearby Egypt, on the famous Narmer palet. (Pharaoh Narmer was smart enough, to let his servant do the carrying.)
	Then follows the big step over the ocean, this time to the Olmec site of La Venta (Mexico). The figure is thought to depict a priest on a serpent. And wat does he carry there?

The origin of the Olmecs

The upcoming and decline of the Olmec culture is still not understood today. Very little is known about them in general. As I said earlier, nothing of the Olmec buildings, pyramids and temples survived, when the mighty god of the black gold took possession of their former homeland. All that is left, are the smaller artifacts. Possibly the most mysterious objects of stonework are the enormous heads. 17 have been found yet. Most of them are about 2 meters tall and weighing several tons and they share a specific property: They seem to have a typical negroid physiology. Only few archaeologists are willing to admit that. In recent years, some even seriously investigate this question. Maybe, some day, a satisfying answer will emerge. See for yourself:
 

(For larger versions of these and more pictures of Olmec sites, take a look here: AnthroArcheArt's Digital Images of Olmec Sites) (new window)

Many theories exist about the possible African origin of the Olmecs. One of these theories states, these people were actually from Nubia, which was south of Egypt (now Sudan).
This theory looked to me not more interesting than others, until I found a particular picture in a book about Ancient Egypt. I'm very sorry, that I can't place this picture here, because I don't have this book myself. It showed a small object (the size of a ring), made in Nubia, depicting a human face looking out of a lions mouth. Now, this is something! I have never before seen something like this made in the Old World, but it is a common theme in Mesoamerican cultures, especially the Aztec. In these cultures, the animal typically would be an eagle, a coyote or a snake.

This "modern Nubian" at a festival somewhere in the USA certainly shares his taste for earrings with the Olmec...

But serious: the african physiology is evident. I found this picture here somewhere on the net. A professor tried to use it as proof, that the heads don't show Africans, but native Americans. It is a Tzotzil from the state of Chiapas in Mexico. I don't argue that he is a Tzotzil. But does it do anything to the fact that this man also has some of the negroid facial characteristics?

...

FROM: http://members.tripod.com/~kon_artz/cultures/egyptame.htm

Guatemala Mayan city may have ended in pyramid battle

By Sarah Grainger

EL MIRADOR, Guatemala (Reuters) - One of Guatemala's greatest ancient Mayan cities may have died out in a bloody battle atop a huge pyramid between a royal family and invaders from hundreds of miles away, archaeologists say.

Researchers are carrying out DNA tests on blood samples from hundreds of spear tips and arrowheads dug up with bone fragments and smashed pottery at the summit of the El Tigre pyramid in the Mayan city of El Mirador, buried beneath jungle vegetation 8 km from Guatemala's border with Mexico.

Many of the excavated blades are made of obsidian which the archaeologists have traced to a source hundreds of miles away in the Mexican highlands. They believe the spears belonged to warriors from Teotihuacan, an ancient civilization near Mexico City and an ally of Tikal, which was an enemy city of El Mirador.

"We've found over 200 of the obsidian tips alone, as well as flint ones, indicating there was a tremendous battle," said excavation leader Richard Hansen, a senior scientist in Idaho State University's anthropology department who is pushing the pyramid battle theory.

"It looks like this was the final point of defense for a small group of inhabitants," told Reuters.

El Mirador is one of the biggest ancient cities in the Western Hemisphere and is thought to have been home to between 100,000 and 200,000 people at its height. Historians believe it was built up from around 850 BC and flourished for hundreds of years before it was mysteriously abandoned in 150 AD.

Many archaeologists think the size and elaborate stucco decoration of the buildings in the city are to blame as the inhabitants used up stone, trees and lime plaster in their construction until their resources were entirely depleted.

Hansen's team believes a group of some 200 people, thought to be the last remnants of the royal family, stayed in the ruined metropolis until they were attacked by warriors from Teotihuacan. 

Teotihuacan was, at its height in the first half of the 1st millennium CE, the largest pre-Columbian city in the Americas. The city during its existence was larger than any European city of the same era, possibly including Rome. The civilization and cultural complex associated with the site is also referred to as Teotihuacan. Its influence spread throughout Mesoamerica; evidence of Teotihuacano presence, if not outright political and economic control, can be seen at numerous sites in Veracruz and the Maya region. The city was located in what is now the San Juan Teotihuacán municipality in the State of México, Mexico, approximately 40 km (24.8 mi) northeast of Mexico City. It covers a total surface area of 83 kms and was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.

The early history of Teotihuacan is quite mysterious, and the origin of its founders is debated. For many years, archaeologists believed it was built by the Toltec. This belief was based on colonial period texts such as the Florentine Codex which attributed the site to the Toltecs. However, the Nahuatl word "Toltec" generally means "craftsman of the highest level" and may not always refer to the archaeological Toltec civilization centered at Tula, Hidalgo. Since Toltec civilization flourished centuries after Teotihuacan, they cannot be understood as the city's founders.

In the Late Formative period, a number of urban centers arose in central Mexico. The most prominent of these appears to have been Cuicuilco, on the southern shore of Lake Texcoco. Scholars have speculated that the eruption of the Xitle volcano may have prompted a mass emigration out of the central valley and into the Teotihuacan valley. These settlers may have founded and/or accelerated the growth of Teotihuacan.

Other scholars have put forth the Totonac people as the founders of Teotihuacan, and the debate continues to this day. There is evidence that at least some of the people living in Teotihuacan came from areas influenced by the Teotihuacano civilization, including the Zapotec, Mixtec and Maya peoples. The culture and architecture of Teotihuacan was influenced by the Olmec people, who are considered to be the "mother civilization" of Mesoamerica. The earliest buildings at Teotihuacan date to about 200 BCE, and the largest pyramid, the Pyramid of the Sun, was completed by 100 CE.

The Pyramid of the Sun is the largest building in Teotihuacán and one of the largest in Mesoamerica. Found along the Avenue of the Dead, in between the Pyramid of the Moon and the Ciudadela, and in the shadow of the massive mountain Cerro Gordo, the pyramid is part of a large complex in the heart of the city.

The name Pyramid of the Sun comes from the Aztecs, who visited the city of Teotihuacán centuries after it was abandoned; the name given to the pyramid by the Teotihuacanos is unknown. It was constructed in two phases. The first construction stage, around 100 A.D., brought the pyramid to nearly the size it is today. The second round of construction resulted in its completed size of 738 feet (225 meters) across and 246 feet (75 meters) high, making it the third largest pyramid in the world behind the Great Pyramid of Cholula and The Great Pyramid. The second phase also saw the construction of an altar atop of the pyramid, which has not survived into modern times. The Adosada platform was added to the pyramid in the early third century, at around the same time that the Ciudadela and Temple of the Feathered Serpent, Teotihuacan Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent were constructed.

Over the structure the ancient Teotihuacanos finished their pyramid with lime plaster imported from surrounding areas, on which they painted brilliantly colored murals. While the pyramid has endured for centuries, the paint and plaster have not and are no longer visible. Few images are thought to have been included in the mural decorations on the sides of the pyramid. Jaguar heads and paws, stars, and snake rattles are among the few images associated with the pyramids.

It is thought that the pyramid venerated a deity within Teotihuacan society but the destruction of the temple on top of the pyramid, by both deliberate and natural forces prior to the archaeological study of the site, has so far prevented identification of the pyramid with any particular deity. Some scholars have suggested that the deity of the pyramid was the Great Goddess, one of two major Teotihuacan deities and one of the few goddesses in ancient Mesoamerica. However, little evidence exists to support this theory.

Modern investigations

The first major archaeological excavation of the site was done by Leopoldo Batres in 1906. Batres supervised restoration of the Pyramid for the 1910 centennial of Mexican independence. Some aspects of Batres' reconstruction of the pyramid have been questioned by later archaeologists. Subsequent excavations of Teotihuacan have continued to the present. In 1925 Pedro Dosal discovered skeletons at the 4 corners of the foundations of the temple, which he interpreted as human sacrifices at the dedication of the temple.

Structure location and orientation

The orientation of the structure may hold some anthropological significance. The pyramid is oriented slightly northwest of the horizon point of the setting sun on two days a year, August 12 and April 29, which are about one divinatory calendar year apart for the Teotihuacanos. The day of August 12 is significant because it would have marked the date of the beginning of the present era and the initial day of the Maya long count calendar. In addition, many important astrological events can be viewed from the location of the pyramid that are important in terms of both agriculture and belief systems of the ancient society.

The pyramid was built over a man-made tunnel leading to a "cave" located six meters down beneath the center of the structure. Originally this was believed to be a naturally formed lava tube cave and interpreted as possibly the place of Chicomoztoc, the place of human origin according to Nahua legends. More recent excavations have suggested that the space is man-made instead, and could have served as a royal tomb. In 2008 scientists used muon detectors to try to find other chambers within the interior of the pyramid, but substantial looting has prevented the discovery of a function for the chambers in Teotihuacan society.

Recovered artifacts

Only a few caches of artifacts have been found in and around the pyramid. Obsidian arrowheads and human figurines have been discovered inside the pyramid and similar objects have been found at the nearby Pyramid of the Moon and Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent in the Ciudadela. These objects may have represented sacrificial victims. In addition, burial sites of children have been found in excavations at the corners of the pyramid. It is believed that these burials were part of a sacrificial ritual dedicating the building of the pyramid.
 

Temple of the Feathered Serpent

The "Temple of the Feathered Serpent" of Teotihuacan is an important religious and political[citation needed] center of the city. The Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent has revealed a great deal about religious ceremonies, burials, and politics in ancient Mesoamerica for the site of Teotihuacan. The structure contains some of the earliest-known representations of the Mesoamerican "plumed serpent" deity figure, most generally known by the term Quetzalcoatl, from the Nahuatl language of the much-later Aztec peoples.

The Feathered Serpent Pyramid is located at the Pre-Columbian site of Teotihuacán, which was at one time the largest city in the western hemisphere. The Feathered Serpent Pyramid is located in the Ciudadela at the South end of the Avenue of the Dead, a long avenue which is surrounded by platforms displaying the talud-tablero architectural style.

The Ciudadela

The Ciudadela is a Spanish term first used when the Spanish conquistadors arrived at Teotihuacán. It is a structure with high walls and a large courtyard that surrounds the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent. The Ciudadela¹s courtyard is massive enough that it could house the entire adult population of Teotihuacán within its walls, which was estimated to be one hundred to two hundred thousand people during its peak. Within the Ciudadela there are several monumental structures, including the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent, two mansions on the North and South side of the pyramid and the Adosada platform. The Adosada platform is located on the front, West side of the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent, blocking its front view.

Architecture

The Feathered Serpent Pyramid is built in the talud-tablero style, with several platforms forming the pyramid. In between every platform there is a wall where a feathered serpent¹s head sticks outward. Its body wraps around the entire pyramid. Along with the feathered serpent there is also another figure that some believe is a representation of a crocodile or a representation of the deity Tlaloc. These figures alternate around the pyramid. In the eyes of these figures there is a spot for obsidian glass to be put in, so when the light hits, its eyes would glimmer. In between the heads a row of three shells can be found, showing that the people of Teotihuacán were trading with people along the Mexican coast. In antiquity the entire pyramid was painted. Today it is hidden by the adosada platform built in the 4th century hinting at political restructurisation of Teotihuacan during that time.

Burials at the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent

The people of Teotihuacan believed in ritual sacrifice to satisfy the gods. Multiple burials were found at the pyramid, and it is believed that they were sacrificed as part of the dedication of the temple. The numbers of the burials are 4, 8, 9, 13, 18, and 20; these numbers represent significant ideology in Mesoamerica. There are four directions in the world, nine layers of their underworld, thirteen layers of heaven and earth, and a ritual calendar of thirteen months of twenty days or two hundred and sixty day calendar, and a solar calendar of eighteen months of twenty days.

Relation to the Calendar

As stated above there was a correlation between the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent and a calendar for the people of Teotihuacán. The pyramid also is thought to contain two hundred and sixty feathered serpent heads between the platforms. Each of these feathered serpents also contains an open area in its mouth. This open area is big enough to put a place holder in. Thus, it is believed that the people of Teotihuacán would move this place marker around the pyramid to represent the ritual calendar. When a spiritual day would arrive the people would gather within the walls of the Ciudadela and celebrate the ritual.

Political influences

The Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent was not only a religious center but also a political center as well. The rulers of Teotihuacán were not only the leaders of men; they were also the spiritual leaders of the city. The two mansions near the pyramid are thought to have been occupied by powerful families. An interesting feature of the Feathered Serpent Pyramid is that there are examples of a shift in power or ideology in Teotihuacán and for the Pyramid itself. The construction of the Adosada platform came much later than the Feathered Serpent Pyramid. The Adosada platform is built directly in front of the pyramid and blocks its front view. Thus, it is thought that the political leaders lost favor or that the ideology of the Feathered Serpent Pyramid lost virtue and was covered up by the Adosada.

Teotihuacan reached its zenith between 150 and 450, when it was the center of a powerful culture whose influence extended through much of the Mesoamerican region. At its height the city covered over 30 kms (over 11 1/2 square miles), and probably housed a population of over 150,000 people, possibly as many as 250,000. Various districts in the city housed people from across the Teotihuacano region of influence that spread south as far as Guatemala. Notably absent from the city are fortifications and military structures.

The nature of political and cultural interactions between Teotihuacan and the centers of the Maya region (as well as elsewhere in Mesoamerica) has been a long-standing and significant area for debate in Mesoamerican scholarship. It is clearly established that substantial exchange and interaction occurred over the centuries from the Terminal Preclassic to the Mid Classic period, and that "Teotihuacan-inspired ideologies" and motifs persisted at Maya centers into the Late Classic long after Teotihuacan itself had declined.

However, there are several schools of thought contending the extent and degree of Teotihuacano influence, which range from a direct and even militaristic dominance, to one where the adoption of 'foreign' traits was part of a selective, conscious and bi-directional cultural diffusion. But because of new discoveries, it now seems that Teotihuacan was not much more different from the later empires, such as the Toltec and Aztec. It is believed that Teotihuacán had a major influence on the Preclassic and Classic Maya, most likely by conquering several Maya centers and regions including Tikal and the region of Peten, and influencing Maya culture.

Architectural styles prominent at Teotihuacan are also found widely dispersed at a number of distant Mesoamerican sites, which some researchers have interpreted as evidence for Teotihuacan's far-reaching interactions and political or militaristic dominance.

A style that has been particularly associated with Teotihuacan is known as talud-tablero, in which an inwards-sloping external side of a structure (talud) is surmounted by a rectangular panel (tablero). Variants of the generic style are found in a number of Maya region sites, including Tikal, Kaminaljuyu, Copan, Becan, and Oxkintok, and particularly in the Petén Basin and the central Guatemalan highlands.

However, it has been established that the talud-tablero style pre-dates its earliest appearance at Teotihuacan in the Early Classic period, and instead seems to have first originated in the Tlaxcala-Puebla region during the Preclassic.

Analyses have also been able to trace the development into local variants of the talud-tablero style at sites such as Tikal, where its use precedes the 5th-century appearance of iconographic motifs shared with Teotihuacan. Thus it appears that the talud-tablero style disseminated through Mesoamerica generally from the end of the Preclassic and not specifically or only via Teotihuacano influence. It is unclear how or from where the style spread into the Maya region.

The city was a center of industry, home to many potters, jewelers and craftsmen. Teotihuacan is known for producing a great number of obsidian artifacts. Unfortunately no ancient Teotihuacano non-ideographic texts are known to exist (or known to have existed), but mentions of the city in inscriptions from Maya cities show that Teotihuacan nobility travelled to and perhaps conquered local rulers as far away as Honduras. Maya inscriptions mention an individual nicknamed by scholars as "Spearthrower Owl", apparently ruler of Teotihuacan, who reigned for over 60 years and installed his relatives as rulers of Tikal and Uaxactun in Guatemala.

Most of what we infer about the culture at Teotihuacan comes from the murals that adorn the site (and others, like the Wagner Murals, found in private collections) and from hieroglyphic inscriptions made by the Maya describing their encounters with Teotihuacano conquerors. The creation of murals, perhaps tens of thousands of murals, reached its height between 450 and 650 CE. The painters' artistry was unrivalled in Mesoamerica and has been compared with that of Florence, Italy.

Teotihuacano culture

People

There is archaeological evidence that Teotihuacan was a multi-ethnic city, with distinct Zapotec, Mixtec, Maya and what seem to be Nahua quarters. The Totonacs have always maintained that they were the ones who built it, a story that was corroborated later by the Aztecs.

Language

In his 2001 paper,[17] Terrence Kaufman presents linguistic evidence suggesting that an important ethnic group in Teotihuacán was of Totonacan and/or Mixe-Zoquean linguistic affiliation. He uses this to explain general influences from Totonacan and Mixe-Zoquean languages in many other Mesoamerican languages many of which do not have any known history of contact with either of the above-mentioned groups.

Religion

The religion of Teotihuacan is similar to those of other Mesoamerican cultures. Many of the same gods were worshiped, including the Feathered Serpent and The Rain god. Teotihuacan was a major religious center, and the priests probably had a great deal of political power. As with other Mesoamerican cultures, Teotihuacanos practiced human sacrifice. Human bodies and animal sacrifices have been found during excavations of the pyramids at Teotihuacan; it is believed that when the buildings were expanded, sacrifices were made to dedicate the new building. The victims were probably enemy warriors captured in battle and then brought to the city to be ritually sacrificed so the city could prosper. Some were decapitated, some had their hearts removed, others were killed by being hit several times over the head and some were even buried alive. Animals that were considered sacred and represented mythical powers and military might were also buried alive but imprisoned in cages: cougars, a wolf, eagles, a falcon, an owl, and even venomous snakes.

Site Layout

The city's broad central avenue, called "Avenue of the Dead" (a translation from its Nahuatl name Miccoatli), is flanked by impressive ceremonial architecture, including the immense Pyramid of the Sun (second largest in the New World after the Great Pyramid of Cholula) and the Pyramid of the Moon. Along the Avenue of the Dead are many smaller talud-tablero platforms. The Aztecs believed they were tombs, inspiring the name of the avenue. Now they are known to be ceremonial platforms that were topped with temples. Further down the Avenue of the Dead is the area known as the Citadel, containing the ruined Temple of the Feathered Serpent. This area was a large plaza surrounded by temples that formed the religious and political center of the city. The name "Citadel" was given to it by the Spanish, who believed it was a fort. Most of the common people lived in large apartment buildings spread across the city. Many of the buildings contained workshops that produced pottery and other goods.

The geographical layout of Teotihuacan is a good example of the Mesoamerican tradition of planning cities, settlements and buildings as a representation of the Teotihuacano view of the Universe. Its urban grid is aligned to precisely 15.5º east of North. The Street of the Dead, in particular, seems to line up with Cerro Gordo to the north of the Pyramid of the Moon. Pecked-cross circles throughout the city and in the surrounding regions indicate how the grid was managed over long distances.

Archaeological site

Knowledge of the huge ruins of Teotihuacan was never lost. After the fall of the city, various squatters lived on the site. During Aztec times, the city was a place of pilgrimage and identified with the myth of Tollan, the place where the sun was created. Teotihuacán astonished the Spanish conquistadores during the post-conquest era. Today Teotihuacan is one of the most noted archaeological attractions in Mexico.

Excavations and investigations

Minor archaeological excavations were conducted in the 19th century, and in 1905 major projects of excavation and restoration began under archaeologist Leopoldo Batres. The Pyramid of the Sun was restored to celebrate the centennial of Mexican Independence in 1910. Excavations at the Ciudadela were carried out in the 1920s, supervised by Manuel Gamio; other sections of the site were excavated in the 1940s and 50s. The first site-wide project of restoration and excavation was carried out by INAH from 1960-65 and supervised by Jorge Acosta. This focused on clearing the Street of the Dead, consolidating the structures facing it, and excavating the Palace of Quetzalpapalotl.

During the installation of a 'sound and light' show in 1971, the entrance to a tunnel and cave system underneath the Pyramid of the Sun was accidentally discovered. Long thought to be a natural cave, more recent examinations have established the tunnel was entirely artificial. The interior of Pyramid of the Sun has never been fully excavated.

Another major program of excavation and restoration was carried out 1980-82 at the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent and the Street of the Dead Complex. Most recently, a series of excavations at the Pyramid of the Moon have greatly expanded evidence of cultural practices.

Collapse

It was previously believed that sometime during the 7th or 8th centuries, the city was sacked and burned by invaders, possibly the Toltecs. More recent evidence, however, seems to indicate that the burning was limited to the structures and dwellings associated primarily with the elite class. Some see this as evidence that the burning was from an internal uprising and that the invasion theory is flawed due to the fact that early archaeological work on the city was focused exclusively on the palaces and temples, places used by the elites, and because all of these sites showed burning, archaeologists concluded that the whole city was burned. Instead, it is now known that the destruction in the city was focused on major civic structures along the Avenue of the Dead.

Some statues seem to have been destroyed in a methodical way, their fragments dispersed. Evidence for population decline beginning around the 6th century lends some support to the internal unrest hypothesis. The decline of Teotihucán has been correlated with the droughts related to the Climate changes of 535-536 CE. This theory is supported by the archaeological remains that show a rise in the percentage of juvenile skeletons with evidence of malnutrition during the 6th century. This does not conflict with either of the above theories however since both increased warfare and internal unrest can also be effects of a general period of drought and famine.

Other nearby centers such as Cholula, Xochicalco, and Cacaxtla attempted to fill the powerful vacuum left by Teotihuacan's decline. They may have aligned themselves against Teotihuacan in an attempt to reduce its influence and power. The art and architecture at these sites shows an interest in emulating Teotihuacán forms, but also a more eclectic mix of motifs and iconography from other parts of Mesoamerica, particularly the Maya region.

Pyramid of the Moon Photo Gallery

This Church Of "Nuestra Señora de los Remedios."
Actually Sits On The Pyramid Of Tipanipa at Cholula!
It Can Be Seen From Many Miles Away! Popocatepetl In Background!

Cholula means "Place Of Those Who Fled" or "Water That Falls In The Place Of Flight."

Cholula: The Pyramid of Tipanipa, "The Worlds Largest Pyramid!" For years the "Pyramid of Tipanipa" at Cholula was said to be the worlds largest pyramid. Not even the Great Pyramid of Egypt, had a larger base!

Now, there is another located in the ancient ruins of El Mirador in Guatemala. El Mirador covers 10 square mile and its largest pyramid is called The Danta Pyramid. Rising 230 feet, The Danta Pyramid is said to be the tallest structure the Maya ever built.

Even so, that still does not take away from the fact that the archaeological site of Cholula's main pyramid is pretty big! It's base has been measured to be about 400 meters to a side It covers 25 acres and it is 181 feet high. That still makes it the largest base for any pyramid structure.

The Cholula Pyramid is oriented to the North North West and it aims at the setting sun during summer solstice. There is a natural spring located beneath the pyramid which is probably why it was built in its original location. There is also a cave under the pyramid. In the center of the pyramid there is a chamber that may represent an artifical cave.

Cholula was the most important center of the Mexican highlands after the fall of Teotihuacan. It is located near the twin volcanic peaks Iztaccihuatl and Popocatepetl and the city of Puebla.

The Great Pyramid Of Tipanipa, dedicated to Quetzalcoatl, is the largest single structure in Mexico. Towering 181 feet high and covering an area of some 25 acres, the pyramid was begun in Pre-Classic times and enlarged at least four times.

In 1982 Tipanipa really did look like a big hill, with a Spanish Colonial church on top. It was difficult from a distance to imagine anything else. Seen from a distance today, it appears as a large hill surrounded by a city, with a Colonial church resting at its summit. The interior of the pyramid has been extensively excavated, affording visitors an extraordinary opportunity to view the different phases of its construction.

In 1910, the Cholula Pyramid was uncovered during the construction of an insane asylum.

Archaeologists say it was in use at the same time as the great Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon at Teotihuacan. If so, it would have been in use a thousand years before the time of these events, and could have been covered and forgotten.

A common story that is told today is that when the conquistadors were invading the land, the great pyramid was so sacred that when the people realized the conquistadors were coming, they organized a work force to cover it with soil so that the Spaniards wouldn't destroy it

We doubt if that story is true, but it would be interesting to learn how and why the Pyramid Of Tipanipa at Cholula was covered with a dirt hill.

We have been to Cholula on two different occasions. First in December of 1982 and again on January 17, 2004. It is amazing to see how the population of Mexico City has grown clear out to the edges of Puebla and how the City of Puebla has grown up around the Pyramid Of Cholula.

Our pages will mostly show what Cholula was like in 1982 and we will show some of the changes that have taken place with photos of January of 2004. We also will include the Cholula Museum on our page, which we did not see in 1982.

This first page is totally made up of photos taken on December of 1982. We wanted to show these pictures so that you can see what the area looked like before the surrounding cities grew up all around the area of the Pyramid.

The Church Was Built On Top Of The Pyramid Of Tipanipa	Audrey, "It Has The Longest Base In The World! With Hundreds Of Other Pyramids And Temples Around It!"
Everywhere You Walk, You See Pyramids And Temples Covered By Dirt	To Hide Them For Centuries!
What A Complex Structure!	West Side Of Pyramid Stage Three
Altars For Sacrifice	Dirt Covered All Of The Temples
Altar One	Altar Two
Plaza Of The Altars	Stone Head Close Up
Cholula Terraces	Cholula Courtyards
Plaza Of The Altars	Plaza Of The Altars, Altar Three
Post Classic Burial Pit South Of The Plaza Now Called Mexica Altar	South Of The Plaza Human Remains Were Found Here In 2004 They No Longer Are Here
The Modern City Of Puebla Is Right Next To The Pyramid	This Entrance Goes Into The Hill To The Pyramid Of Tipanipa Base Steps
You Go Inside The Entrance	And There Are Many Places Like This Where You See The Pyramid Steps From Inside The Hill
This Tunnel Follows The Base	And Up The Steps
Another Tunnel Following The Base	Up The Pyramid
Several Tunnels Go Up	Here's Another

 

Just east of St. Louis, near Collinsville, Illinois is the largest earth mound in the western hemisphere.  It is 30 metres high and dates back to 1100-1400 AD. 

"The largest of these mounds, Monk's Mound covers 16 acres; it rests on a base 1,037 feet long and 790 feet wide, with a total volume of approximately 21,690,000 cubic feet, a base and total volume greater than that of the pyramid of Khufu, the largest in Egypt. In all the world, only the pyramids at Cholula and Teotihuacan in central Mexico surpass the Cahokia pyramid in size and total volume. No other structure in the United States approached the size of the Cahokia pyramid until the building of airplane hangars, the Pentagon, and skyscrapers in the twentieth century."

There are more than one hundred other, smaller mounds at Cahokia ­ as well as Woodhenge, which is of course a wooden counterpart to England¹s Stonehenge.

According to the Cahokia website, in March 1998 something unexpected happened:

"During the process of installing horizontal drains to relieve the internal water in Monks Mound that had contributed to several severe slumping episodes along the west side (Second Terrace), the drilling rig encountered stones about 140 feet in and 40 feet below the surface of the Second Terrace.  The operator said it felt like "soft stone," probably limestone or sandstone, and that it was mostly cobbles or slabs at least six inches in diameter. The drill went through about 32 feet of stones and the drill bit broke off.  We have no idea what it is, what shape or size it is, or why it is there. It should not be there.  No other cores or excavations have revealed stone in Monks Mound or any other mound at the site, or, as far as we know, at other Mississippian mound sites.  We do not know its vertical thickness or the extent of it horizontally, other than the 32 feet that the drill went through."

These were made during the same Mississippian Temple Mound Building Period, as were mounds at Moundville (near Tuscaloosa, Alabama) and at Cahokia ­ roughly 700 AD to 1400 AD.

The six flat-topped earthen knolls and a plaza were used for rituals by several thousand Native Americans between 1000 and 1500 A.D.  The largest mound has a height of 63 feet. Only nine percent of this site has been excavated, but we already know that the mounds have caves underneath them as do some Mayan and Giza pyramids. 

It may also just be a coincidence, but there is a Limonite mine at Etowah.  Limonite is a iron-bearing ore with a very special use - as radiation shielding for atomic bomb tests, nuclear reactors and space stations. It is also what gives Mars its red color.

Poverty Point combines mounds with an aspect of ancient Rome ­ an amphitheatre.  Consisting of concentric ridges 5-10 feet high and 150 wide, the construction has a diameter of 3Ž4 of a mile, five times the diameter of the Colosseum in Rome.  The ridges were built with 530,000 cubic yards of earth (over 35 times the cubic amount of the Great Pyramid of Giza).  Of the earth mounds, one has a base of 700 feet by 800 feet and is 70 feet high.  It is shaped like a bird.

This mound is conical, like Silbury Hill in England.  Archaeologists believe that it was constructed by the Adena Indians (800 BC ­ 100 AD).  The mound sits on a 100 foot high bluff, and measures 877 feet in circumference.  Originally it attained a height of 70 feet.

A beautiful two person crypt under the pyramid
addressed Ft Lauderdale and right at Davie, 
this convenient location is just north of Hollywood in
Broward County Florida
Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens South
2401 SW 64th Avenue
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33317

Pyramids have occasionally been used in Christian architecture of the feudal era, e.g. as the tower of Oviedo's Gothic Cathedral of San Salvador. In some cases this leads tomasonic or other symbolical intentions.

An example of a modern pyramid can be found in Paris, France, in front of the Louvre Museum. The Louvre Pyramid is a 20.6 meter (about 70 feet) glass structure which acts as an entrance to the museum. It was designed by the American architect I. M. Pei and completed in 1989.

The Transamerica Pyramid in Downtown San Francisco, California.

The 32-story Pyramid Arena in Memphis, Tennessee (built in 1991) was the home court for the University of Memphis men's basketball program, and the National Basketball Association's Memphis Grizzlies until 2004.

The Walter Pyramid, home of the basketball and volleyball teams of the California State University, Long Beach, campus in California, United States, is an 18-story-tall blue pyramid.

The Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas, United States, is a 30-story pyramid.

The Summum Pyramid, a 3 story pyramid in Salt Lake City, Utah, used for instruction in the Summum philosophy and conducting rites associated with Modern Mummification.

Underwater pyramid, Rock Lake

in Lake Mills, Wisconsin

Located in Lake Mills, Wisconsin is reported to have an  ancient pyramid  submerged  in its waters.
Sauk Native Americans speak in their legends of a sacred site close by a lake. The Sauk did not construct the site and related structures - this was done by ancient peoples who were driven away when the lake flooded. Stories have continued to the present concerning Rock Lake "pyramids" and other underwater foundations.

The "pyramid" legends were revived during the mid 1930s when a combination of low water and clear, dry summers allowed viewing of a number of subsurface geometric forms including pyramids, cones, walls, and trenches. One individual Max Knoll, using his own invention - a form of SCUBA dive gear - dove the lake and viewed many of these structures. Still, those who supported the theory of man-made underwater structures were ridiculed and little was proved either way.

The Rock Lake near Lake Mills, just west of Jefferson, has been a place of hot scientific debate. There have been expeditions and fly-overs that have revealed ancient underwater manmade pyramids. These pyramids have also been connected to the ancient Aztalan State-Park, which is in fact the remains of an immense Native city, with fortified walls and excavations revealing hundreds of ancient human remains, and perhaps evidence of cannibalism and human sacrifice.  Many even believe there is a powerful energy vortex around the lake and park, as many visitors get headaches and a sick feeling shortly after entering the area.

Interest in the structures was renewed when observations of SCUBA divers were published in the 1960s. A major effort commenced in the 1980s with a complete side scan sonar study of the lake floor showing a number of unusual-shaped structures along a submerged beach.

Side-scan sonar reading, indicating several artificial structures beneath the surface of Rock Lake.
Unusually clean water conditions in 1991-92 allowed two of the sites to be photographed in sufficient detail to prove their existence as man-made structures. Sufficient evidence does not exist to date the structures or to identify their builders. One possibility is that they are associated with prehistoric copper trade cultures which would coincide with the Post Algoma low lake levels of 3,000 years ago.

Future research will hopefully tell us more about these ancient visitors and their contributions to Wisconsin heritage.

It was during this time that King David was at the height of his power. While God did not allow David to build the Temple of Solomon he was allowed to make preparations for its construction.  The project was financed through the vast war booty and tribute payments that poured in from vassel nations.  The preparations and instructions to Solomon are recorded in I Chronicles 22: 1-16. 

David accumulated "great stores of iron for nails and clamps" (RSV).
This iron may very well have been mined here in Wisconsin.

He also accumulated "bronze in quantities beyond weighing," (RSV)
Evidence will show that David mined the copper ore from Michigan and it may have been refined here in Wisconsin, near Rock Lake.

King David  also amassed much cedar wood  through his alliance with the city-states of Tyre and Sidon.

The harvesting of timber would again account for the desolate plains , void of timber, in North America.

In the course of his wars, David had collected large amounts of gold and silver from tributary nations, and verse 14 quotes David as summing up his temple preparations with these words:

"With great pains I have provided for the house of the Lord a hundred thousand talents of gold and a million talents of silver, and bronze and iron BEYOND WEIGHING , for there is so much of it; timber and stone too have I provided." (RSV). -- The "Lost" Ten Tribes of Israel...Found!, p. 24.

KING SOLOMON AND THE HARVESTING OF NORTH AMERICA

There is archaeological evidence, that the fleets of Solomon and Hiram of Tyre circumnavigated the globe .
 
Hebrew customs, discovered by the early English settlers in the Americas, were found among some of the Indian tribes, including the wearing of phylacteries! Minoan and Phoenician coins have been found, and inscriptions of ancient Phoenician and Minoan scripts, in Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, and the Star of David was even found in an ancient ruin of the Pueblo Indians in New Mexico! In the middle of the second millennium, B.C., and down to the time of Solomon, circa 1000 B.C., oceanic travel by maritime powers in the Middle East seems to have been fairly common.

In the book BRONZE AGE AMERICA,  the late Dr. Barry Fell (Professor Emeritus of Harvard University) records that copper trading between ancient North America and the Old World was extant prior to and DURING THE REIGN OF KING DAVID!

In his book, we find evidence from  ancient inscriptions that Norse kings carried on a copper trade with the New World in the St. Lawrence River as early as 1700 B.C., seven centuries prior to the reign of King David. 

There is, clear evidence that David's allies, the Canaanite Phoenicians, were included in the New World copper trade and that some of David's huge stockpile of copper ore came from the Phoenician's North American trading routes.

Notes Barry Fell --

"Around the northern shore of Lake Superior, and on the adjacent Ile Royale, there are approximately 5,000 ancient copper mine workings. In 1953 and 1956 Professor Roy Drier led two Michigan Mining and Technology expeditions to the sites. Charcoal found at the base of the ancient mining pits yielded radio carbon dates indicating that the mines had been operated between 2000 B.C. and 1000 B.C...The most conservative estimates by mining engineers show that at least 500 million pounds of metallic copper were removed over that time span, and there is no evidence as to what became of it.  BRONZE AGE AMERICA,  NY: Wallaby, 1976. P. 261.

Since the mining operations at these North American sites were taking place during the reigns of David and Solomon, it is more than likely that part of this Lake Superior copper was used to satisfy David's voracious appetite for raw copper for the Temple. The biggest customers for copper and other raw materials in the world of the time were King David and Israel and, later, King Solomon."

These ancient Lake Superior copper mines were worked to exhaustion during the reign of King Solomon, meaning that they were producing during the time that David was stockpiling copper ore "beyond calculation" for the CONSTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM.!

The Bible states that  ancient Israel, under King David, was stockpiling massive quantities of copper ore around 1,000 B.C.  Sources also confirm  that the North American copper mines ran out of ore during the reign of Solomon. The connection between the two is quite  obvious: most of the ancient North American copper ore was shipped to ancient Israel and used for the construction of the Temple and later projects of Solomon.  For More information that I have on these people

Rock Lake, Located in Lake Mills, Wisconsin  was a pyramid  resting beneath its waters.  This pyramid is linked to the people that were mining the copper in upper Michigan - thus linked to the King Solomon Mines and/or Temple.

The legends of these 'stone tepees' were revived during the mid 1930's when a combination of low and clear water allowed viewing of a number of its geometric forms, including g pyramids, cones, walls, and trenches.
.
Again in 1991-92 , unusually clean water conditions  allowed two of the sites to be photographed in sufficient detail to prove once and for all that these were man made structures.


PUTTING THE PIECES TOGETHER

By examining the work of Carl Munck, we can find a  system of coordinates that includes  nearly every sacred site on earth. In his 1977  book, THE CODE  Munch,  shows how all of the Egyptian pyramids can be lined up into a very narrow strip that runs straight north and south. (See  illustrations  )

These Grid lines (ley lines) carry flowing currents of energy which cause spiraling vortices.

Gizeh is at exactly 30 degrees North latitude .Exactly one third of the  way,  around the Earth, you come to Mesoamerica, home of the Aztecs and Maya. A literally identical grid band shows up  here  – 120 degrees from Gizeh-

The entire pyramid complex of Tikal conforms to the north-south grid line configuration!
If you extend the line further north, IT EMCOMPASSES THE PYRAMID AND RELATED ARTIFACTS FOUND IN ROCK LAKE .

ENERGY DISTURBANCES AFFECTING THE HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS

Strange things happen around the area of Rock Lake. People see things that aren't there  - Ice fishermen can't start their chainsaws out on the ice, but back on shore they start fine - They return to the ice and again run into the same problem. Scuba divers, trying to film the underwater pyramids can't get their cameras to work. Other divers, preparing to dive into the waters of the pyramid,  are overcome with a sense of dread. 

It is apparent that there is an energy disturbance going on in the area - strong enough to cause mechanical failure as well as affecting the human consciousness.

It is also apparent that this area  represent stress points of higher dimensional and  intelligent energy. The higher frequencies of energy  would render such things as spark plugs for chainsaws and batteries for electronic cameras inoperable, as it would actually change the vibratory rate of electromagnetic frequencies, thus making them incompatible with ordinary devices. ( We experience the same result when a ufo closely approaches an area  - . all mechanical / electrical items stop functioning.)

These frequencies also affect the human consciousness, leading people to have 'screened visions'. Emotions are affected by these frequencies with some experiencing anxiety while others a sense of euphoria.  Some people have sensed  that 'time has stopped' or that everything seems to have turned into a silent void. .  (  Similar human reactions occur during the presense of a UFO)

It appears that the BUILDERS OF THE ROCK LAKE AREA WERE HARNESSING USABLE ELECTROMAGNETIC ENERGY.  a technology modern man has yet to put to practical use.  (  It also seems  that the people piloting these ufos are also  harnessing this usable energy  in these high energy points such as Rock Lake.

TIKAL AND ROCK LAKE PYRAMID CONNECTION

Now we know that Rock Lake has demonstrated anomalies. But what about Tikal? Carl Munck discusses the main pyramid at Tikal, which is at the lower portion of the American grid line at the Yucatan, (see plate 1)  indicating that it is unique in several ways. First, its depth shows an exact harmonic of the equatorial circumference of the Earth in feet - 24.9015, which is a harmonic of 24,901.5 statute miles. He goes on to show how the Tikal pyramid encodes the exact measurement for the surface area of a sphere, which will always be 41252.96127 square degrees. When we multiply this sphere number by three, representing the three staircases on the pyramid, one discovers the pyramid’s exact longitudinal coordinates on the Grid! This looks very curious, as we are taking a number representing a sphere and using it in a set of three. This is just like our tetrahedron dividing the spherical Earth into thirds.

Reference : CHAPTER 11: GLOBAL GRID II: HYPERDIMENSIONAL CRYSTALS BEGIN TAKING SHAPE ON PLANETS

Rock Lake Pyramid Photo   THE LIMNATIS (of the lake)  PYRAMID

Frank Joseph,, author of THE LOST PYRAMIDS OF ROCK LAKE  states that beneath the surface of Rock Lake lie at least ten structures. Two of these have been mapped and photographed by skin divers and sonar.  One of these structures is called  Limnatis Pyramid and has  a base width of 60 feet, a length of about 100 feet, and a height of 18 feet, although only about 10 feet protrude from the silt and mud. It is a truncated pyramid, built largely out of round, black stones. On the truncated top, the stones are squarish . It seems that the structure itself had a coating of some kind of a  plaster substance.

Excerpted in part from: http://www.burlingtonnews.net/lakemills.html

From Science Frontiers #66, NOV-DEC 1989. © 1989-2000 William R. Corliss

Rock Lake (Wisconsin)

 

Rock Lake
Location	Central Wisconsin
Coordinates	43°05′N 88°56′W / 43.083°N 88.933°W / 43.083; -88.933Coordinates: 43°05′N 88°56′W / 43.083°N 88.933°W / 43.083; -88.933
Basin  countries	United States

Rock Lake is a lake in Central Wisconsin, United States. Geography

Rock Lake is in south central Wisconsin, at Lake Mills, Wisconsin in Jefferson County, Wisconsin approximately 20 miles (32 km) east of Madison. It is 87 feet (27 m) at its deepest point. Lake Mills is a quaint small town.

Mounds shaped like pyramids exist three miles (5 km) east of Rock Lake in a State Park called Aztalan State Park, on the Crawfish River in the town of Aztalan, Wisconsin. The park has National Landmark Status and is a Midwestern archeological treasure. The mounds are thought to have been built by the Mississippian Mound Builders, and it is speculated that the site at Aztalan is a northern outpost of Cahokia, a much larger city in present day Illinois not far from St. Louis, Missouri.

The waters of Rock Lake have also been referred to as "Tyranena", (Tie-ra-nee-na) and that name has persisted in the area as well, and is used by businesses, road names and a park that is on the lake.

Rock Lake is perhaps most famous for its underwater "pyramids" believed by some to be built by the Aztalan natives at a time when water levels were much lower.[1]

External links

• local information

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_Lake_(Wisconsin)"

Categories: Pyramids | Lakes of Wisconsin | Jefferson County, Wisconsin | Native American archeology

Approximately three miles from the Rock Lake Pyramids, is the ancient ruins of Aztalan.  Here there were found  two truncated, earthen pyramids, partially surrounded by a tall stockade. These also showed signs of having a plaster substance used as a coating ..

Aztalan seems to have been occupied as late as the Fourteenth Century.

Aztalan State Park
 

Aztalan
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
Location:	Near Lake Mills on WI 89, Aztalan State Park
Nearest city:	Lake Mills, Wisconsin
Coordinates:	43°03′56″N 88°51′46″W / 43.0655567°N 88.8628841°W / 43.0655567; -88.8628841Coordinates: 43°03′56″N 88°51′46″W / 43.0655567°N 88.8628841°W / 43.0655567; -88.8628841
Added to NRHP:	October 15, 1966[1]
Designated NHL:	July 19, 1964[2]
NRHP Reference#:	66000022

1855 map of Aztalan historical site;
north is to the right.

Aztalan State Park is a Wisconsin state park located just south of the town of Aztalan, Wisconsin at latitude N 43° 4' and longitude W 88° 52', and established in 1952. It was also designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. The park covers 172 acres (0.7 km² or 70 ha) along the Crawfish River.

Aztalan is the site of an ancient Native American settlement that flourished during the 10th to 13th centuries.

 Pre-history (900–1300)

Aztalan was first settled around 900 by a Native American culture known as the Middle Mississippian Tradition. The most famous example of a Middle Mississippian settlement is at Cahokia, Illinois. These settlements are characterized by the construction of mounds, stockades, and houses, by decorated pottery and agricultural practices. There are also elements of the Woodland culture found here.

The residents were involved in long distance trade. Some of the items found include copper from Michigan's Upper Peninsula, shells from the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, and stone from other areas of the Midwest.

Sometime between the years 1200 and 1300, the Aztalan settlement was abandoned for reasons that remain unknown to this day.

 Life in Aztalan

Most of the residents dwelled in circular or rectangular houses between the river and the Eastern secondary wall. The placement of the structures suggests that the layout was planned, but not in rows such as are found along streets. Instead, it is thought that houses were constructed around a central plaza area that may have been used for rituals. Posts for the house frames were either placed in individual holes, or in a trench dug slightly narrower than the posts. Walls were then completed with wattle and daub, a plaster mixture of grass and clay, and the roof covered with bark or thatch. The doorway usually faced south to keep out the winter's north winds. Inside, a single family slept on pole frame beds, covered with tamarack boughs, deer skins, and furs. Sometimes a fire was kept in the middle of the house and a hole in the roof let out the smoke. Pits in the house stored foods like corn, nuts, and seeds in woven bags, while perishable foods like meat were probably stored outside prior to cooking. Pits outside were also used for garbage and community resources.

The site was well chosen to provide a variety of food sources, and other resources. The staple of the diet was corn or maize, and other plants were also gathered as food, such as acorns, hickory nuts, and berries. Tobacco was also grown at this time for rituals, as tobacco seeds have been found at this site. The main source of meat was deer, especially in the winter, and they also caught and ate beaver, elk, fox, muskrats, and raccoons. They also hunted birds, turtles, and mussels, and caught fish in the Crawfish River directly next to the site, where they had set up rock barriers called fish weirs at key points, one of which is still visible when the river is low. Some of the fish found have been catfish, bass, suckers, buffalo fish, pike, drum fish, and gar. Shell middens have been found where thousands of mussel shells were disposed, creating layers of shells several feet thick.

Raw materials for tools and building were available in the area, or could be obtained through trade from remote places. Trees nearby provided wood for posts for house walls and stockades, bows and arrow shafts, bowls and spoons, and firewood. Smaller tree branches and grass were used for bedding and roofs. Shells from the river could be used for jewelry, beads, spoons, and digging tools, and clay was dug for pottery. Ornamental and exotic objects, or objects made from foreign materials are commonly associated with status.

 Physical features

A view of Aztalan State Park with one of the stockades surrounding a mound in the background.

The most obvious features of Aztalan are its pyramid-shaped platform mounds and its stockade.

 Mounds

There are three platform mounds on the site. The largest is the one in the southwest corner of the stockade; one almost as large is located in the northwest corner. The smallest of the three is along the east side of the settlement, near the Crawfish River (labeled "West Branch of Rock River" on the plates). The hill in the southeast corner is a natural gravel knoll, not built by the inhabitants.

The largest mound was built in three stages, with a set of steps leading to the top, where a structure was built over the entire flat top. The mound was covered with a clay cap, probably to enhance its appearance. Corn was stored in pits inside the structure, but there are several theories about why this corn was kept here, and the reason for the structure itself. This may have been the storage facility for the entire village; storage for food just for the top village officials; it may have been used for ceremonies and rituals; or it could have been a house for the village officials. This structure was rebuilt each time a larger stage of the mound was built on top of the old.

The northwestern mound was also built in three stages. A special structure, approximately 4 m by 2 m (12 ft by 5 ft), with its long axis towards the northeast/southwest, was built on the west side of the mound, with a doorway in its southwest corner, and covered with a mixture of clay, willow branches, and grass. The floor was covered with a mat of what may have been cattails, on which ten people were placed side by side, with their heads towards the doorway, and the bones of another person were bundled together with cord. Once this construction was complete, and the bodies were inside, the building was burned.

The eastern mound had a large open-walled structure, about 12 by 27 m (40 by 90 ft), built on top of it, with firepits lined with white sand inside. The function of this mound and structure remain unclear.

Additionally, to the northwest of the stockaded area, a row of round mounds extends northward. When archaeologists dug in these mounds during the 1920s, they did not find the burial sites they had expected. Instead, each mound had a large post set in a pit in its center, surrounded by gravel and soil, with the pit capped with clay and gravel to hold the post steady. These mounds have been termed "marker mounds" because they may have been used to mark the site for travelers, but this is not certain; they may also have been used for announcements, message relays, or for calculations of astronomical phenomena.

Stockade

The settlement was surrounded on the north, west, and south sides by a stockade, a wall of logs set into the ground vertically. These were made by digging narrow holes in the ground with digging sticks, then lifting the posts into position and setting them into the holes. The stockade was then finished by weaving flexible willow branches through the posts, and plastering the whole with a mixture of clay and grass to fill in the gaps, a technique similar to wattle and daub.

A smaller stockade was built within the outer one, around the housing areas, at some point. It is not clear whether both stockades existed simultaneously, for a layered defense, or one was built after the other fell into disuse.

The outer stockade was described by Lapham (v.i.) as being "631 feet (192 m) long at the north end, 1,149 feet (350 m) long on the west side and 700 feet (213 m) on the south side; making a total length of wall of 2,750 feet (838 m). The ridge or wall is about 22 feet (7 m)wide, and from one foot to five (30 cm–1.5 m) in height."^[3] It had at least 33 square watchtowers at regular intervals along its length, remarkably similar in form and placement to European fortifications, in addition to some more along the secondary walls. Rather than having a gate to protect the entrance, though, the builders constructed the entrance in such a way that it was camouflaged when one looked at it from the outside, blending in with the wall around it.

During the time Aztalan was inhabited, two sets of outer stockades were built. The posts of the first one eventually rotted, and the second one burned and was never rebuilt. It is not clear whether the purpose of the stockade was to keep out invaders, or if the occupants built it for another reason.

Modern discovery (1835–1919)

In 1835, a young man named Timothy Johnson discovered the ruins of the ancient settlement, and in December of that year and January 1836, N. F. Hyer committed the first rough survey of the site, publishing the discovery in the Milwaukie Advertiser of January 1837. According to Lapham:

"The name Aztalan was given to this place by Mr. Hyer, because, according to Humboldt, the Aztecs, or ancient inhabitants of Mexico, had a tradition that their ancestors came from a country at the north, which they called Aztalan; and the possibility that these may have been remains of their occupancy, suggested the idea of restoring the name. It is made up of two Mexican words, atl, water, and an, near; and the country was probably so named from its proximity to large bodies of water. Hence the natural inference that the country about these great lakes was the ancient residence of the Aztecs."^[4]

Hyer wrote that "We are determined to preserve these ruins from being ruined." However, in 1838, President Martin Van Buren refused a request by Massachusetts statesman Edward Everett to withdraw the site from public sale, and the site was sold for $22. In the following years, the surface was plowed, the mounds were leveled for easier farming, pottery shards and "Aztalan brick" were hauled away by the wagonload to fill in potholes in township roads, and souvenir hunters took numerous artifacts.

In 1850, Increase A. Lapham, an author, scientist, and naturalist, surveyed the site, and urged its preservation. At the time, the stockade was still standing, though not in the condition it had once been.

State park foundation and reconstruction (1919–present)

Historic marker for Aztalan State Park

In 1919, archaeological excavations began at Aztalan, under the direction of Dr. S. A. Barrett. In 1920, the Landmarks Committee of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin under Publius V. Lawson started a new effort to save what remained of Aztalan, supported by the Friends of Our Native Landscape and the Wisconsin Archeological Society. They made their first purchase of some of the land in 1921, three acres (12,000 m²) west of the stockade with eight conical mounds, and presented it to the Wisconsin Archeological Society.

Work for preservation continued. In 1936, the state's archeological and historical societies petitioned the federal government for funds to reconstruct the stockade without success. In 1941, the newly-founded Lake Mills-Aztalan Historical Society began an energetic campaign to preserve the stockade area.

In 1945, the Wisconsin State Assembly passed a bill directing the State Planning Board to study the possibility of establishing a state park at Aztalan. In 1947, the Wisconsin State Legislature passed a resolution requesting the State Conservation Commission to purchase Aztalan. 120 acres (490,000 m²) were purchased to this end in 1948, and the Wisconsin Archeological Society and the Lake Mills-Aztalan Historical Society donated their holdings. Aztalan opened to the public as Aztalan State Park in 1952.

Aztalan was designated a registered National Historic Landmark in 1964 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966.

In 1968, portions of the stockade wall were reconstructed by placing new posts in the original holes. A section of this was also covered with the wattle and daub, but this has since worn away or been removed.

 See also

• List of Wisconsin state parks
• List of Mississippian sites

 References

1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2008-04-15. http://www.nr.nps.gov/. 
2. ^ "Aztalan". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=24&ResourceType=Site. Retrieved 2008-06-30. 
3. ^ Lapham, Increase Allen. The antiquities of Wisconsin. Washington : Smithsonian Institution, 1855. p. 43.
4. ^ Lapham, Increase Allen. The antiquities of Wisconsin. Washington : Smithsonian Institution, 1855. p. 42.

 External links

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Aztalan State Park

• WI DNR Aztalan State Park site
• The Antiquities of Wisconsin, Increase A. Lapham, 1855 — University of Wisconsin Library
  • Chapter 3 — Ancient Works in the Basin of the Rock River
    • Section 2 — Ancient Works at and in the Vicinity of Aztalan
  • Plate 34 — Ancient Works at Aztalan
  • Plate 35 — Map Showing the Ancient Works at and near Aztalan
• Birmingham, Robert A. and Lynne Goldstein. "Aztalan: Mysteries of an Ancient Indian Town," Wisconsin Magazine of History, vol. 89, no. 3 (Spring 2006).

 

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Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztalan_State_Park"

Categories: Archaeological sites in Wisconsin | Mound builders | National Historic Landmarks in Wisconsin | Wisconsin state parks | Jefferson County, Wisconsin | Protected areas established in 1947

Aztalan State Park is considered Sacred ground to many Native American tribes in the area and should always be treated with respect and honor, if you plan to visit these areas, please remember this.

MOUNDS IN THE UNITED STATES http://www.greatdreams.com/mounds.htm

CARL MUNCK GEMATRIA WORK - http://www.greatdreams.com/gem1.htm