[gunshots] The history that we were all
taught growing up is wrong. My name is Scott Wolter, and
I'm a forensic geologist. There's a hidden
history in this country that nobody knows about. There are pyramids
here, chambers, tombs, and inscriptions. They're all over this country. We're gonna investigate
these artifacts and sites, and we're gonna
get to the truth. Sometimes history isn't
what we've been told. SCOTT WOLTER (VOICEOVER): I
recently received a message from a guy in Lake
Mills, Wisconsin. He says there's strange stuff
going on beneath the surface of one of the local lakes. [beep] JEFF (ON PHONE): Hey, Scott. This is Jeff in Wisconsin. Hey, there's a mystery here
that I think that you really need to check out. Some people are saying
that there's pyramids under the water at Rock Lake. They think that the Aztecs
may have built them, and I wanna know what you think. SCOTT WOLTER (VOICEOVER):
This is something I've got to see for myself. I'm on my way to meet
Jeff [inaudible].. Jeff. Hey, Scott. How you doing? Got me a beer already, huh? Yeah, of course. All right. Let's see what we got here. Stone Teepee, eh? And it looks like-- are those three pyramids? Yes, they are. This have anything to
do with why you called me? This is exactly
why I called you. SCOTT WOLTER (VOICEOVER):
We're meeting at a place called Tyranena Brewing Company. It's named after Tyranena,
the old name for Rock Lake. This area is steeped in legend. Locals tell stories of a foreign
tribe which long ago built stone structures and effigy
mounds near the lake, that are supposedly now underwater. All of this where we're at
now, and the beer, all of it ties into why I asked
you to come here. It has to do with some
underwater pyramids here in Lake Mills. How did this
whole story start? It all started in 1900,
when some duck hunters found pyramids underwater. They were out
paddling their boat, and he stuck an oar
down and hit some rocks. Maybe it's just
a pile of rocks. It could be just
a pile of rocks, but that's not the
legend around here. Did somebody go down
and take a look at it? A few years later,
some scuba divers went down to check it out. OK, and they saw
these pyramids? These pyramids in the water. Well, what do they look like? Well, here, I got a
diagram to show you. It's a local diver
gave this to me. Look at that. There's supposed
to be three of them. Those are pretty big, if this
diver and the scale's right. Kind of a long shaped
pyramid, right? Yeah. How deep is this? It's roughly in
about 20 feet of water. They used to protrude
out of the water, though, until the
water level rose. The rumors is around here
that the Aztecs built them. The Aztecs? Up here in Wisconsin? Yeah. That's the rumor. That's the rumor?
OK. Yeah. Well, I know a little
bit about the Aztecs. SCOTT WOLTER (VOICEOVER): The
Aztecs emerge in central Mexico in the early 1300s. They conquered their neighbors
and became an empire known for huge markets and pyramids. They built their
capital, Tenochtitlan, where Mexico City now stands. Early Spanish visitors
reported that Tenochtitlan was five times the size of London. They eventually engineered
and built this amazing city, this huge city that had walls
that apparently separated the different classes. The elite were on one
side, and the common people were on another. We're talking about a
pretty advanced culture. But coming up here to Wisconsin,
that's pretty incredible. Yeah. I'm looking at your beer
here, Rocky's Revenge? Well, Rocky's Revenge is
one of the many legends. And this is one of
the legends here, protector of the pyramids. Is that a dinosaur? Yeah, it's kind of
like the Loch Ness. OK, Wisconsin's
version of Nessie? Yeah. But do people really believe
there's something there? Actually, the local
scuba divers do. They feel like someone's
watching them when they dive under water, and they have a
fear of just being under there. Really? And a lot of them
get a scared feeling when they're down there. Well, I'm not gonna
get creeped out by murky water or a Rock Lake monster. In fact, I wanna get to
the bottom of this mystery. And the only way to
do that is to get to the bottom of the lake. Are you gonna scuba dive down? Nope, submarine. SCOTT WOLTER (VOICEOVER):
I'm in Wisconsin, checking out a local legend. More than 100 years ago,
a couple duck hunters were rowing in Rock Lake. The story goes that they put
down their paddle and hit something hard. Maybe it was an
underwater pyramid. That's bizarre, but
what's even stranger is who the locals
think are responsible. The Aztecs. They're the empire that
dominated Mexico for 300 years, starting in 1300 AD. The idea that the Aztecs
traveled to Wisconsin to build pyramids is pretty bizarre. But the story gets
stranger still. According to legend,
there a mythical beast named Rocky under the lake. Divers report feeling uneasy
when they're underwater, as though they're being watched. I'm not really buying the idea
of Wisconsin's own Loch Ness Monster. Still, I want to see
what's down there, and I'm gonna do it using
a one-man submarine. Hey, guys. I'm really excited to
check out the fugusub here. I've heard a lot
about them, and I'm anxious to give it a try today. Looks like we've got
good, calm water out there. And from the dock, it
looks pretty clear. So you guys realize that
there are people that believe that the Aztecs
built pyramids that are in the bottom of the lake. And obviously, the subs will
help us see if that's true or not, but have you
heard anything about that? Yes, actually we're really
quite excited about diving out here. We've wanted to go out
here for several years. I'm not certain who
built these things, but they're certainly
worth taking a look at. Well, I appreciate you guys
being willing to help out today, and I see these
are yellow submarines. I've never been a
big Beatles guy. I'm more of a Rolling Stones
guy, but why the yellow color? It's a high visibility color. And one good reason
for making them yellow is that there's a lot
of boats driving around, and you just don't want someone
to come and mow you down. OK. Also, for
underwater filming, we found that the yellow is the
best color in the spectrum to pick up on film. And fugusub? Why? Why that name? Well "fugu" is a Japanese
word for "pufferfish." RUSSELL CANFIELD: The pufferfish
moves adeptly underwater. That's why the guys name
their subs after them. You drive one thruster
forward and reverse the other, you'll turn on a dime. And we brought a video
along, so you can possibly take a look at it and get
an idea of what it can do. Sure, let's take a look. It's just on the
surface there, and you can see some underwater
shots in a minute. Here you are at the surface. It operates like a boat there. Yeah, we designed it that way. And these can go on
basically any boat ramp that you can find. It's ideal for
a lake like this. You can launch it and go in. Yeah. OK. So how deep can you go in these? We can take these to 100 feet. And we've designed these so
that they can only ascend and descend quite slowly. So you're not gonna have to deal
with any decompression issues. Yeah OK. Well, I'm ready to go. What do you say we get
these things in the water? First, we've gotta do a
bit of prep work on them. All right, guys. I'll be back in a little bit. SCOTT WOLTER (VOICEOVER): While
the fugusubs are being prepped, I'm gonna talk to a guy
named Roberto Rodriguez. He's studied the Aztecs. Maybe he'll be able
to tell me if there's anything truth to the rumor that
the Aztecs built settlements in Wisconsin. Hey, Roberto. Hey, how you doing? Nice to meet you. Great to meet you. Well, I understand you're
an expert on the Aztec, but why are we meeting
here in a cornfield? Well, I was looking for
where the Aztecs had come from. About halfway
through my research, I began to interview
many elders, and-- - Native American elders?
- Yes, yes. OK. And most of them told me that
if I was looking for that idea of origins, to follow the corn. Follow the corn? Follow the corn. Follow the maize. See, corn, it's
probably the only crop in the history of humanity
that documents itself. It was created literally
about 7,000 years ago, in southern Mexico. Created? See, the thing
about corn is that it has to be planted, cultivated,
and harvested by human beings, because it can't grow by itself. Scientists today
believe that corn came to what is today the US
perhaps between 4 to 6,000 years ago. OK. How does this tie-in
with the Aztecs? They were a
corn-based society, so that was their life. SCOTT WOLTER (VOICEOVER):
Corn was the sacred crop to the Aztecs. While they worshipped many
gods, the two most important were the corn god
and corn goddess. The Aztecs routinely
sacrificed humans and animals to please them and to
guarantee a good harvest. Sometimes, they even ate
parts of the victims' bodies. Does that mean that
the Aztecs brought corn into what is now North America? Well, the Aztecs were
a corn-based society, but they're not the ones
that brought it here. The corn is many, many thousands
of years prior to the Aztecs. Right, OK. Indigenous people brought it
here, native peoples, American Indians from the south. It's everywhere for
thousands of years. So it starts in
southern Mexico-- And then it spread
out after that. Everywhere, everywhere. So Canada, Peru, the Andes,
everywhere, including here. By pursuing the
story of the Aztecs, that's what led me to the
cornfield, so to speak. I began tracking the migration
of indigenous peoples from Mexico, and I
stumbled onto a map that said that the Aztecs had come
from somewhere in the north of what is today the US. So wait a second, Roberto. I always thought it was the
Aztecs that started in Mexico and traveled north. So are you saying that the
Aztecs came from what is now the United States? SCOTT WOLTER (VOICEOVER): People
are still talking about what a couple of duck hunters
found in Lake Mills, Wisconsin more than 100 years. Their oar didn't slice
smoothly through the water. It hit something,
something hard. The guys took a closer
look and saw what appeared to be a stone pyramid. It was the beginning of
the legend of Rock Lake. What's, more scuba
divers who have gone looking for the
underwater pyramid say there's a sea
monster in Rock Lake. Rocky, Wisconsin's
own Loch Ness Monster, is said to fill divers
with a sense of dread. I'm about to look for myself. It seems bizarre, but I just
found out something else that seems crazy, too. Almost all my investigations
involve people coming to the United States in ancient
times, not the other way around. But I just learned that
the Aztecs might have done the opposite,
traveling from the US down to Mexico, where
they built their empire. While I'm waiting
for the submarines to be ready for my pyramid
search here in Wisconsin, I need to find out more about
Roberto's remarkable theory. I always thought that the
Aztecs originated in Mexico. ROBERTO RODRIGUEZ: Uh-huh. SCOTT WOLTER: But are you saying
that the Aztecs originated in what is now
the United States? Well, there is
lots of evidence that shows a definite connection
between peoples from Mexico and what is today
the US Southwest. I don't think there's a
doubt that what people today call the Aztecs, that
they had connections through the Pochtecas. Those are the merchants. They would go throughout the
continent, trading copper bells, macau feathers, all these
different implements, artifacts that we find today. SCOTT WOLTER: What
specific evidence do you have that ties
the Aztecs to what is now the United States? Another piece of
evidence are ancient maps. I would like to actually show
them to you, spread them out so you can actually see
what I'm talking about. - Great.
- OK, let's go. SCOTT WOLTER (VOICEOVER): If
Roberto has credible evidence that the Aztecs began in what's
now the United States then went to Mexico, I want to see it. I know there are
legends in Wisconsin that the Aztecs were here. I know corn is in abundance,
which was a sacred plant in their society. And I know the Aztec migration
legend places their origin in the north of Mexico. Given those facts, the idea that
the Aztecs were from Wisconsin was starting to
sound more plausible. Maybe Roberto's maps
have more clues. So I wanted to
show you these maps. So here's the 1847
Disturnell Map. I originally thought that the
Aztecs started in Mexico City and went north, and you're
saying they actually started somewhere in the
north and then ended up in Mexico City. Is that correct? The basic story is that
they came from somewhere in the north, in a
place called Aztlan. SCOTT WOLTER (VOICEOVER):
Aztlan, the name of the Aztecss mythical homeland, has a
couple of possible meanings. "Place of herons" or
"place of whiteness." According to legend, the Aztecs'
ancestors lived in Aztlan until their god,
Huitzilopochtli, told them to head south until they saw
an eagle on top of a cactus devouring a snake. The eagle eating the
snake or the serpent, I mean, I've just seen
that imagery before. Yeah, I know. And the reason you have,
and most people have also, is that in the a Mexican
flag, you have that symbolism. There's the eagle, the
serpent, and the cactus. Now, this particular map
has that imagery also. It's the same thing. Well, I've been a
journalist most of my life. And about the mid-'90s, somebody
mailed me the entire map anonymously with a note saying,
"Please put it to good use." SCOTT WOLTER
(VOICEOVER): The map was part of the Treaty of the
Hidalgo, an agreement signed in 1848, which ended the
Mexican-American War. Mexico surrendered nine states,
including California and Texas. The treaty map was
one of the last times the Aztecs' American origins
were ever mentioned in print. Here it is blown up. One of the first things that
I find, here on the confluence of the Colorado and
the Green River, and that's in the
Four Corners region-- OK. --Of the US, is the antigua
residencia de los Aztecas. Does that say the "ancient
home of the Aztecs"? Absolutely. SCOTT WOLTER
(VOICEOVER): Combining a modern map of the United
States with the 1847 treaty map suggests that the ancient
home of the Aztecs could be the American Southwest. But could there be a
connection to Wisconsin, too? How come I've never
heard of this before? Well, the more amazing
story is that I found actually 200 maps older than this one,
going from 1847 all the way to 1500, tracking
the same story, except that the older
ones show Salt Lake as the point of origin. SCOTT WOLTER (VOICEOVER):
The Great Salt Lake is the largest inland
body of salt water in the Western hemisphere. It's located in the
northern part of Utah. Because, see, the story
about the Mexican Indians or the Aztecs coming
from the north is that they came from a
body of water, in an island. And so all the older
maps show Salt Lake. It's amazing. So this body of water
was the Great Salt Lake? Exactly. Well, I'm not telling
you that it's correct, but I can guarantee you that
there is a map tradition going 300 years, that is
from 1500 to 1847. After the war, all this
stuff magically disappears. SCOTT WOLTER
(VOICEOVER): Sure enough, when we compare the treaty map
with one that was published 21 years later, there is
no mention of the antigua residencia de los Aztecas, the
ancient home of the Aztecs. OK, do you think that there
was a deliberate attempt to get rid of this information? In this country, they're used
to telling people to go back. You know, go back
where you came from. And if they're used to
doing that, implying go back to Mexico, well, this
would throw the story off, because to tell them
to go back, they'd have to go back to
the Four Corners. That is incredible. Wow. Well, I have to say that
this evidence on the map and the legend of the migration
of the Aztec over a period of at least a couple of
years is really compelling. But is it possible maybe
they originated up here in Wisconsin? Is there any other
evidence that you found that makes this connection? Probably the biggest
evidence is the language. What we today call the
Aztec spoke Nahuatl. And Nahuatl is part
of a larger family, the Uto-Azteca language,
and that language goes from Canada-- Canada? --All the way down
to Central America. For instance,
Michigan and Michoacan have the identical meaning. It's a place of fishes. The word for "shoe" in the
Nahuatl language is "mocatzin." "Mocatzin," "moccasin." It's almost identical. So these words that
I've talked about, they actually mean
the same thing on opposite ends
of North America. I always say that the borders
we have are in our minds, not in geography, because you
have many hundreds of mounds, mound cultures in this area. So it's not unreasonable to
think that these people are connected to the
people down here. That's not out of the
realm of possibility. Well, Roberto, you've really
presented compelling evidence with your maps, that the Aztecs
didn't originate in Mexico City, that they came
from the United States. SCOTT WOLTER (VOICEOVER): It's
all starting to make sense, the maps, the Aztecs' origin
story, and the linguistics, they all suggest the same thing,
that the Aztecs got their start in what is now
the United States. I'm not certain if they
were ever here in Wisconsin, like the rumors of underwater
pyramids and Rocky, Wisconsin's own Loch
Ness Monster say. But I'm about to find out. The subs are ready, and soon
I'll start my underwater search of Rock Lake. Hey, Russell. Hey, Scott. You ready to go? Wow, you bet I'm ready to go. SCOTT WOLTER: If
we find something, is there any way to get
out and take a look? Well, this has been engineered
specifically for that purpose. OK. In fact, you just let
the air out of the dome. You unlatch the hatches,
you put a mask on. So you can get out
and look at it. When you're done with that, you
can swim back in, lock it down. And once that air
pocket is restored, off you go, and you're
on your way again. All right. Well, that's great. Shall we get started? Yup. Scott, I'm a great believer
in hands-on experience. All right. So here, let's take a look. Why don't you step
up on the edge and into the middle of the seat? I'd like to get you familiar
with how these things steer. OK. And the center console, you
pull it backwards and forwards, and you see your boat is-- OK. That's down. Yup. And that's for
the right thruster, and that's for
your left thruster. OK. So when you push them
forward, your depth thruster will go forward. When you pull them back,
it'll go backwards. So let me just let
you get a feel for it. So hit your thrusters forward. Yup. Go all the way forward. Get some speed on it. It does turn on a dime. I don't know about you, Russ,
but I'm ready to get out there. SCOTT WOLTER (VOICEOVER): I
did a couple of practice dives near the shore, but we've still
got some battery power left. Now we're gonna boat out to
where the underwater pyramids are supposed to be located. I'm excited to go
deep in the fugusubs, but I'm even more pumped to
see what the Aztecs may have down there. Well, Russ, if there's
an Aztec pyramid down there or the Rock Lake monster,
we're about to find out. SCOTT WOLTER (VOICEOVER):
More than 100 years ago, a couple guys in Wisconsin
supposedly stumbled upon an underwater
pyramid in Rock Lake. Locals think the Aztecs may
have something with this Midwest mystery. There's strong evidence,
maps, to support the idea the Aztecs got their
start in the United States, not Mexico. I'm getting ready to
dive down in search of the rumored Aztec pyramids. And that's not the only thing. Well, Russ, if there's
an Aztec pyramid down there or the Rock Lake monster,
we're about to find out. SCOTT WOLTER
(VOICEOVER): Now I'm in a submarine beneath
the surface of Rock Lake. I'm looking for more
than just the pyramids. People say Rocky, Wisconsin's
version of the Loch Ness Monster, is down here, too. He's what's known as a cryptid. Cryptids aren't recognized
by the mainstream sciences, but they're often
the stuff of legends. Animals like kangaroos
and platypuses were once considered cryptids. It will be amazing if I find
evidence of the creature known as Rocky. But that's not why I'm here. First and foremost, I'm
hunting for Aztec pyramids, or what's left of them. It's really murky out there. Even if the pyramids
are down here, it's gonna be hard to spot them. And it's hard to maneuver
with all these weeds. Hey, Scott. What kind of visibility
have you got down there? SCOTT WOLTER: All right, I think
I'm cruising along here pretty good. There's a lot of weeds here. I can see the bottom. I'm trying to stay
off the bottom. The rest, I'm going--
no one's down here. Ah, shit. I'm stuck in the mud. Scott, I think I
see your bubbles. Are you there? Just pick up, all right? SCOTT WOLTER: Ugh, I
gotta get outta here. I finally got unstuck. I'd really like to
park this thing, but it has to be on
firm ground, not mud. RUSSELL CANFIELD:
Scott, can you pick up? I'm not hearing you. SCOTT WOLTER: All right,
Russ, I'm seeing some rocks. Maybe if I follow
the rocks, I'll find the pyramids that are
supposed to be down here. RUSSELL CANFIELD:
All right, Scott. It's probably time
to come up now. The battery's been
running quite a while. SCOTT WOLTER: Yeah. Yeah, I'll be up in just a sec. There's one more thing
I wanna check out here. I really wish it
wasn't so murky. This visibility is really bad. I see things that
look promising, but when I get
close, it's nothing. Just more weeds. No pyramids. RUSSELL CANFIELD:
Come on, Scott. We need you to come up now. SCOTT WOLTER: All right, I'll
be up in just a minute here. There's a couple more things. I just wanna check
this out here. I think I got the
hang of this thing. I wanna keep going a
little bit further. RUSSELL CANFIELD: Scott,
we need you to come us now. Come on! SCOTT WOLTER
(VOICEOVER): Damn it. I wanna stay down here, but
it sounds like Russell's gonna kill me if I don't come up soon. I'm running out of time to spot
the pyramids, or Wisconsin's Loch Ness Monster. It's a shame we don't have
more battery power and more daylight. I guess I'll have to head up to
the surface, but I'm not happy. Well, guys, I didn't see
anything I wanted to see, but that last dive
was pretty good. Unfortunately, I didn't
see any stone structures. That doesn't mean that there
isn't something down here. It just means that we
didn't find it today. It was a little
creepy down there. I mean, it just had an
eerie feeling to it. Kind of makes me
wonder if maybe there's something to these legends
after all about whatever it was that's in this lake. Dark waters do that. You just don't always
see what's going on. We're used to seeing
everything around us, where we can get a better
grasp on what's out there. But when it's dark like that,
you're just spooked by it. Maybe come in the springtime
when water's a little clearer, the weeds haven't grown up yet. I mean, I'm not ready
to give up on this site. I think there's still a
good possibility there could be something here. We just didn't find it today. SCOTT WOLTER (VOICEOVER):
I'm disappointed I didn't see pyramids
in Rock Lake, but I've got one more lead
that could help me connect the Aztecs with Wisconsin. The Aztecs' mythical
homeland was Aztlan. Tomorrow, I'm going to a spot
with virtually the same name, Aztlan State Park. I wanna find out whether
the places are connected and why they share
the same name. Maybe the rumors are
true and the Aztecs did spend time in Wisconsin. Hey, Bob. You know, as we talked
about on the phone, I'm looking into the
possibility of the Aztecs being in Wisconsin. And I know you're familiar
with the Rock Lake mystery. I just spent a whole
day in a minisub down at the bottom of the
lake, looking for some of these underwater pyramids. I didn't see anything other
than a few piles of rocks. I'm open to the possibility that
there could be something there, but I haven't seen it. That pretty much
matches our research, too. Well, then why is
it that everybody thinks that there's pyramids
at the bottom of the lake. The answer is, in fact,
here at Aztlan State Park. Let me show you Aztlan. SCOTT WOLTER (VOICEOVER): I
came to Wisconsin to check out stories of underwater
pyramids some people think the Aztecs built. When
I took my investigation beneath the surface of Rock
Lake, I didn't find pyramids. I didn't find Rocky, either, the
underwater sea monster rumored to live there. But I'm not giving up. Right now I'm in
Aztlan State Park. It has virtually the
same name as the Aztecs' mythical homeland, Aztlan. According to legend, the Aztecs
came from a place in the north. And I still wonder if
Wisconsin could be that place. I'm looking into the
possibility of the Aztecs being in Wisconsin. Isn't Aztlan the ancient
home of the Aztecs? This is Aztlan, right? Yeah. To get at that answer, I
need to show you the site and to tell you more about it. Well, this is the northern
outpost of a great civilization that arose after about 1000
AD here in the Upper Midwest. SCOTT WOLTER (VOICEOVER): 1000
AD was a big year in history, both here in America and
elsewhere in the world. At the same time people
were building this place, Viking explorer Leif Erikson
was discovering North America, gunpowder was being
invented in China, and Henry I was the
reigning King in England. Populations around the world
were growing, different groups who were coming into power,
and conflicts were on the rise. And that's exactly what
was happening here. This is a town that, as you
can see by this reconstruction, was heavily fortified. It is, in fact, one of
the most heavily fortified archaeological sites we know
of in eastern North America. They weren't kidding
around, were they? The logs were
plastered with clay, a foot thick on both sides. Bob, these walls are massive. I mean, what were
they afraid of? Well, these are
clearly defensive. They had moved in with a
group of local Indians, but other people in
the area were obviously not pleased to see
these new people, these intruders competing for
the resources in their lands. And so we believe that that
stimulated a great deal of warfare. How do archaeologists
know all this? Aztlan has undergone
archaeological excavations for over 100 years. The most important place
that has yielded information about this site is
the town dump, where people, for generations, threw
out all of their garbage, built up in layers so we can study
the history of the site, and we can get detailed
information on, for example, their diet. So what did they eat? Well, they were
basically farmers. They grew corn, squash,
but they also hunted deer. Can you tell me a little bit
about the layout of this place? Yeah, there's a great spot
from which we can see the town. Let's go over there. SCOTT WOLTER
(VOICEOVER): To me, it seems like the layout of this
place could be very telling. If it's laid out like
Aztec sites in Mexico, that's important. I can't help but notice
the pyramid-shaped mound. It reminds me of the pyramids
the Aztecs built in Mexico. Aztec cities like Tenochtitlan
had things like plazas and separate areas for the most
important members of society. I wonder if any of those
things are found here. Running down the
center of the town was a public plaza, very
characteristic of towns in Mexico, where you have
religious ceremonies, celebrations, festivals. At the highest
portion of the site was a zone that appears to have
been restricted for the elite, the most important people. So this is the highest
point right here. This had to be an
important person. This would be the chief's
mound or the ruler's mound. The mound to the northwest
was the mound of death. As people died, they
put the newly dead alongside people who had died
in that family previously. Wouldn't there be an
odor permeating the plaza? Yeah, but in
the ancient world, they were used to many
things that we are not today. And the smell of
death is suddenly one odor that they would not
have found objectionable. That mound over there,
what was its purpose? That was the base
for the temple, where the sacred fire of the community
was kept by special priests. OK. It was not to be put out,
except for once a year when they began the
agricultural new year. The native people conducted
and, in fact, conduct a ceremony called the Green Corn
Ceremony, which celebrates the new agriculture year. The corn is coming in. That's the New Year's
celebration for them? The New Year's celebration. SCOTT WOLTER
(VOICEOVER): The people here were obsessed with corn,
just like the Aztecs were. When I met with Roberto in the
cornfield just west of here, he told me that corn was the
Aztecs' most sacred crop. And I learned they
even had corn gods. It seems more and
more likely to me that there could be a connection
between the people who lived here and the Aztecs. Now, one of the most
interesting aspects is the very last mound, the
furthest away from the town did have a human burial. And that was of a young woman. SCOTT WOLTER: How old? BOB BIRMINGHAM: Between 18
and 21-years-old young woman, who was buried with thousands
of beautiful shell beads, associated with very high
status, very important people. Could she have
been sacrificed? She, in fact, may have been
a sacrifice or an offering during a drought. The question
becomes, what happens if the corn doesn't come? Exactly. The ultimate offering, one
of their young princesses. So it sounds like the practices
that you've described here are a lot like the Aztecs. SCOTT WOLTER
(VOICEOVER): The Aztecs were a corn-based culture. So were the people who
lived here at Aztlan. Aztec cities had plazas
and special areas for elite members
of their society. So did the town at Aztlan. The Aztecs were legendary for
their practice of sacrificing humans to the gods. The people who lived
at Aztlan appear to have done the same thing. It seems like there has to
be some kind of connection, some kind of influence
between the two groups. The name Aztlan, I mean,
isn't that associated with the Aztecs, too? The name "Aztlan" actually
comes from an early settler, who came out here, discovered
the ruins of the site, and thought that they were
similar to Aztec ruins. He read about the
Aztecs, and found out that they came from a
homeland north of Mexico City, and reasoned, well, this
is north of Mexico City, so this must be the homeland
of the Aztecs, Aztlan. The pieces seemed
to fit in his mind. Yeah, exactly. So why not? The Aztecs came much later. There's really no
direct connection between that civilization
and this place. Which begs the question,
who were these people that built this site? The people from this site
were from an entirely different civilization. May have been in contact
with some Mexican people, but a different civilization
that existed here in the Midwest called
the Mississippians. A little over 1,000 years ago,
along the Mississippi River, this civilization created
America's first city, the place we call Cahokia. Aztlan was the northern outpost. OK. But that larger civilization
stretched right down to the Gulf of Mexico. About 1200 AD, we see the
abandonment of Aztlan, and throughout the north, the
Mississippian civilization disappears, period. SCOTT WOLTER: Bob doesn't think
the Aztecs were ever here, but who's the say the
Mississippians from up here in Wisconsin didn't
become the Aztecs in America's southwest and later [inaudible]? The timing makes sense. Bob says the Mississippians
abandoned Aztlan land around 1200 AD. The Aztecs were in Mexico
in Tenochtitlan in 1323. That means they would have
had more than 100 years to leave Wisconsin
and travel south, spending time in
the Great Salt Lake and the Four Corners
region along the way. I'm not saying it happened,
but it is a possibility, even if Bob doesn't think so. So basically
what you're saying is, there are some similarities
but not necessarily a direct connection? It shouldn't
surprise us that there are a great many similarities
between the customs in North American people, like at Aztlan,
and middle American people, because they literally
did have common origins. Well, Bob, what I think is
important that you mentioned is that there is evidence
of contact between people in Mexico and people in the
central part of the United States going back
into the distant past, and I think that's
an important point. SCOTT WOLTER (VOICEOVER): I
knew exploring the Rock Land pyramids would be an
underwater adventure, but I wish my descent
into Rock Lake could have been more productive. I wasn't able to see the
pyramids the Aztecs built or the legendary
Rock Lake Monster. There may be piles of
rocks in Rock Lake, but it's more likely
imagination and not the Aztecs putting them there. I am convinced the Aztecs
began in Wisconsin, then made there way to Mexico,
not the other way around. We've got good map evidence
that links the Aztecs to the American Southwest. And given the similarities
between the Aztecs and the Mississippians,
there might even be a connection there, too. After seeing Aztlan and
hearing about Cahokia, I'm more interested than ever
in investigating the mysteries of the Midwest. I think there's a lot left.
