UA’s Museum Expedition to Investigate Gulf State Park

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The University of Alabama’s annual Museum Expedition is ready to hit the beach this summer.

Led by the Alabama Museum of Natural History, the 38th annual expedition will hold its first trip to a state park in an effort to assist UA’s Office of Archaeological Research with its investigation into the prehistoric occupation of the Gulf State Park area.

“Gulf State Park is a unique environment with evidence of mound building, canal systems and a coastal way of life that few know much about,” said Matt Gage, OAR director.

Working with the OAR’s Brandon Thompson as project director, Museum Expedition will offer three summer camp programs. The middle school camp, which is June 6 through 11, is for students who have completed sixth grade. The high school camp, which is June 13 through 18, is for ninth-graders and up.  The public camp, which is June 20 through 25, is for participants ages 14 and up unaccompanied or for participants ages 10 through 14 with parental accompaniment. The cost is $350 a week, which includes meals and accommodations.

“The Museum Expedition is one of the few places where children and adults who really and truly love science and adventure can do both in really unique and interesting places across our state,” said Todd Hester, expedition leader and museum naturalist. “People always ask me what it’s like, and the only answer I can give is, ‘You just have to experience it to know. There is nothing else like it.’”

UA has been involved with Gulf State Park since its inception in the 1930s. Walter B. Jones, the state geologist and director of the Alabama Museum of Natural History at the time, conducted investigations at the site before it even became a park. Working with the National Park Service, he recorded archaeological sites, shell middens, sand mounds and canal systems at a time when archaeological techniques were not what they are today, Gage said.

The project’s goal is to reinvestigate some of these features to learn more about the people who lived along Alabama’s Gulf Coast before European intervention. By using new techniques and modern technology to assist in the investigations, they hope to discover new information that will help them better understand the people, Gage said.

“We hope to find evidence of everyday life, like the common trash that would have been thrown out by the area’s occupants, but that provides archaeologists with infinite possibilities for investigating prehistoric people’s way of life,” he said. “Bits of broken pottery and stone tools, animal bones, charred plant remains and even simple things like discarded shells can tell the trained archaeologist much about the inhabitants. A simple trash pit can show us what people ate, where they traveled, what other cultures they met and traded with and how they saw the environment around them.”

In addition, OAR archaeologists would like to map some of the monumental prehistoric architecture at the park more accurately and provide information to help the park manage its nonrenewable cultural resources.

“We want participants to come away with a greater appreciation of the prehistoric people who lived along Alabama’s Gulf Coast and the incredible cultures they developed,” Gage said. “Alabama’s heritage is a delicate thing that is being lost a little every day. If we can help open people’s eyes to the wonders of past and present Native American cultures, we’ll consider the project a success.”

Space is limited; call 205/348-7550 or email museum.expedition@ua.edu for more information.