Mississippian villages in Wisconsin such as Aztalan or the village in Trempealeau may have started out as trading outposts for the town of Cahokia in central Illinois. Stone from Silver Mound, near the city of Hixton has been found by archaeologists at Cahokia. This indicates that there were trading networks. Food may have also been sent to Cahokia in exchange for exotic items. Corn agriculture appears to have been successful for Mississippian peoples.
By about 1200 AD, however, it looks as if the Mississippian centers were more involved in regional trading and that there was little trade with Cahokia. There are no more platform mounds built in Wisconsin. Archaeologists aren't sure what happened to Cahokia. The complex society that marked Cahokia changes. There are no more platform mounds, the communities are much smaller than Cahokia, and trade networks are greatly reduced. One theory is that it evolved into the Oneota culture.
