UA’s Museum Expedition Continues Archaeological Dig at Tannehill Ironworks

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The University of Alabama’s Alabama Museum of Natural History continues its effort to discover the history buried beneath the Tannehill Historical Ironworks State Park from Wednesday, June 4 to Wednesday, June 25, through its 30th Annual Museum Expedition.

The ruins of Tannehill Ironworks lie in a state park in McCalla, Ala., west of Birmingham. At its zenith, the iron works produced more than 22 tons of iron a day for the Confederacy.

This year’s dig will continue last year’s exploration of the slave quarters on site. Dr. Jack Bergstresser, archaeologist and director of the historic park’s Iron and Steel Museum, will lead the scientific part of the expedition. The explorers hope to uncover more information about the slaves who lived in the 16 structures that constituted the slave quarters – buildings whose foundations measured about 14 feet by 16 feet, no bigger than a modern-day bedroom.

“Last year, the expedition discovered new clues about the wartime fate of the quarters and the lives of its occupants up to their very last day as slaves,” Bergstresser said. “A small collection of beads say that a woman lived here, perhaps the mother of the house. Beads held special significance for slave women because they held the symbolic power to protect her family and home from evil, harm and sickness.”

Another key find from last year’s dig was a wrought- iron pintle, an early form of hinge; it was found where the door of the slave cabin once stood. 

“Probably made by a slave blacksmith and hammered in place by a slave carpenter, it helped the door swing open for the last time on the morning of March 31, 1865,” Bergstresser said. “Before that momentous day ended, the Yankees had probably burned the quarters.  The people who had walked out of the house as slaves in the morning were free men, women and children by nightfall.”

Participants in the Museum Expedition include high school students, teachers and others interested in getting their hands dirty for the sake of studying history. The monthlong event promises to provide participants with a hands-on learning environment.

“This summer’s dig will teach us more about this important story,” Bergstresser says. “It is a nationally significant story just beginning to be told, thanks in large part to the work of the Expedition’s summer dig team.”

Four-day or seven-day sessions are available for high school students, teachers, as well as anyone else interested in archaeology, history or the natural sciences.  The program runs from Wednesday, June 4 through Wednesday, June 25, and costs are $200 for a mini-week and $400 for a full week.  For details, phone 205/348-7550 or go to http://amnh.ua.edu/archcamp.html.