On an almost perfect summer day, 15 people gathered
at the Aztalan State Park shelter for the annual club
picnic.

Bob Thornton had brought a sampling of new club
material as a preview sale, and others brought their
own rocks for swapping or selling.

Afterward, Bob Birmingham, retired state archeologist
and a volunteer at the park, came to the shelter to give
a brief talk about the Indian history of the park.

 After the talk.
Bob took us on a tour of some of the features of the
village. First, we stopped at a partial reconstruction of
the stockade that surrounded the village.

It was built
for purposes of defense and was quite an engineering
project. Next, we climbed to the top of one of the two
large flat-topped pyramidal mounds on which the chief
and his family would have lived. We ended the tour in
what would have been the residential area of the
village. (Scot Moss)