Last I checked, the Great Lakes and Gulf Coast were mostly in the U.S. Did some Aztecs wander in?
Nevermind you. Don’t you know we’re trying to celebrate ‘diversity’ in U.S. history here? /s
That “pyramids and plaza” look to the artist’s conception drawing is evocative of PreColumbian Mexico and Central America, and the culture appears to have spread up the Mississippi; furthermore, two-way trade of goods over thousands of miles has been documented in recent decades. However, piling up dirt results in a pyramid-like pile of dirt, so...
http://www.orgsites.com/wi/aztalan/_pgg8.php3
Aztalan is a State Park near Lake Mills, WI. Some archeologists argue that the population moved from WI to Mexico City where they became the Aztecs. IOW, migration was the opposite direction of what we generally were taught — north to south.
There was a trade route that extended all along the Mississippi and reached down into Nahuatl and Aztec areas. The ‘Moundbuilders’ carried on extensive trade, and were at least culturally influenced by the Mesoamerican civilizations. You can drive a nice chunk of this ancient trade route along the Natchez Trace in the south. I like it, my wife finds it monotonous and foreboding.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natchez_Trace