Published On: 07.22.14 | 

By: Keisa Sharpe

Scholars hope a two-year exploration will help find the site of an epic Alabama battle

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On a muggy Memorial Day, in a remote clearing near the Alabama River, three of the state’s most eminent anthropologists and one of the state’s best-known historians huddle around a hand-drawn map they hope can take them a few steps nearer to finding one of the most significant historic sites in North America.

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On Oct. 18, 1540, an armed force led by Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto clashed with Indian warriors led by the famed chieftain Tascalusa. The ferocious encounter decimated Tascalusa’s people and left the fortified Indian village in ruins. But it also proved to be a fatal blow to De Soto’s expedition. Severely weakened, De Soto led his battle-scarred troops deeper into the unmapped continent. He would not survive, and the remnants of his army were ultimately forced to find their way back to the relative safety of Mexico.

To this day, the precise location of this epic battle, at the lost Indian town of Mabila, remains a vexing mystery. But the allure of Mabila – which some experts believe could rival Antietam as the deadliest day of combat on U.S. soil – is undeniable.

Now, with the support of the Alabama Power Foundation, a two-year, three-university archaeological expedition is getting underway. The hope: to get closer to finding Mabila – a discovery that would cement Alabama’s importance as the site of one of the most important battles in the history of the western hemisphere.

In the quest for Mabila, “we will be examining one of the most important archaeological sites on the Alabama River,” said Greg Waselkov, professor of anthropology at the University of South Alabama and lead researcher for the expedition.                                                                                                                                          Mabila1 splash

The location to be scrutinized is not Mabila, but another site where De Soto’s troops may have crossed the Alabama River on their way to the village. If the two-year dig can confirm that, then scholars can use the historic chronicles of De Soto’s journey, written by others who accompanied the famous explorer, to hopefully pinpoint – once and for all – the location of Mabila.

The Making of an Expert Dream Team

Waselkov’s dream team includes anthropologist Jim Knight, recently retired from the University of Alabama and considered one of the nation’s top Mabila scholars, and Craig Sheldon, distinguished professor emeritus of anthropology at Auburn University Montgomery.

Along for the ride on the Memorial Day outing was historian Leah Rawls Atkins, co-author of Alabama: The History of a Deep South State and a longtime student of Mabila. “It’s tremendously exciting to see some of the top experts on Mabila coming together in hopes of finally finding this incredibly important site,” Atkins said.

 

During the Memorial Day visit, the team found encouraging signs they hope will point to future success when the full-scale expedition kicks off in the fall.Mabila4 splash Although the site was explored in a limited way in the 1960s and 1970s, no digs have taken place since then. Using a hand-drawn map from the earlier excavations, the team quickly found the specific locations of the prior digs.

They also found Indian pottery fragments dating to at least the 18th century, when natives living near the site traded with French convoys traveling the river between Mobile and Fort Toulouse, in present-day Elmore County. Sheldon said the digs decades ago at the site yielded a wealth of material, from early archaic Indian artifacts dating to 6,000 B.C, to trading beads and pottery, to French flintlock rifles, cannonballs and coins.

A key question the team hopes to answer with the new expedition: whether the site, which has been active off and on for thousands of years, was in use during the time of the Spanish explorers in the 16th century.

That the site visit took place on Memorial Day also seemed prophetic. After all, the team is searching for a famous battlefield where native Americans died in a desperate fight to defend their homeland from a Spanish force intent on conquest.

Should Mabila be located, the impact for this rural section of Alabama could be significant. Finding Mabila could help attract more scholars and research grants to the area, not to mention the potential for tourism and economic development in connection with the historic site.

“One can rightfully say that the lost battle site of Mabila is the predominant historical mystery of the Deep South,” Knight wrote in “The Search for Mabila,”a 269-page volume about the quest published by The University of Alabama Press. The book, edited by Knight, was the product of a three-day gathering of Mabila scholars hosted by the university in 2006. Perhaps soon, with a little luck and some hard work, scholars can peel away some of the mystery that shrouds the lost village and battlefield of Mabila.