Social Organization

Specialized crafts, extensive trade networks, and the construction of large structures such as stockades and mounds demonstrate a high degree of social organization and complexity at Aztalan. Its layout, with communal structures atop the Northeast and Southwest Platform Mounds and a distinct residential area where most of the population lived and worked, reflects varied social functions and status among community members. Differences in clothing types, adornment, and the use of symbols reinforced these class distinctions. Treatment of the dead, with some members buried in mounds and others in non-mound contexts, also reflects a prevailing social hierarchy. The plaza provided a shared space where elite and lay villagers interacted in communal and ritual activities.

Aztalan, Wisconsin · United States