America’s last slave ship is better preserved than thought – National Geographic

“Now we know the mud is moving on the site. Sometimes it’s coming out of the ship, sometimes it’s closing the ship,” Delcado says, comparing the movement to fluctuations. “Sometimes things that have never been seen before are shown, and then they are hidden again.”

According to Delcado, excavations of the “limited and targeted” wreckage are scheduled for March.

Barrels of water, pork, beef, rice, rum, molasses, flour and bread stored on the ship may still be buried in the hold of the ship. Human DNA can also be detected in traces of body fluids or feces between the ship’s hulls.

“I can’t imagine things like that being there,” Delcado said. He adds that the potential for future discoveries has contributed to its inclusion in the National Register.

Upcoming excavations will take wood samples, study aquatic organisms that colonize the decay, and look for ways to prevent site degradation. This information will be used to determine what to do next Clotilda To be done and can be dug up the remains.

Stacy Hawthorne, the state archaeologist at the Alabama Historical Commission, has her suspicions.

Also read: Is this the last slave ship to arrive in the United States?

“One of the problems you face when you dig something is that you destroy the environment. The environment tells the story,” says Hawthorne. ‘You have to be very careful to gather all the information you can. You have only one chance. If something is destroyed, it can no longer be kept. ‘

A great way is to leave the shipwreck site and create a monument nearby. That too is done USS Arizona At Pearl Harbor. After all, archaeologists and government officials will work closely with the descendants of slaves. Clotilda To determine the best course. The new museum, Africa Town Heritage House, is expected to open next summer.

For Davis, every detail revealed by the researchers feels a little strange. Every detail is an opportunity to tell the story of his community in the international arena.

“It’s great,” she says. “Ten or fifteen years ago, I could not have imagined that all this would come out because it was a myth. But everything was documented. ‘

This article was originally published in English on Nationalgeographic.com