Research Resources

Our Collections

We’ve been excavating sites in the Gulf Coast region for over three decades. Our collections are kept at our curation facility on campus, where they are made accessible for research and display. Reach out to us if you’d like to study our collections.

Historical Maps

Archaeologists rely heavily on maps to help guide and interpret our excavations. We have georeferenced and digitized many historical maps from the Mobile Bay Area. You can explore these maps using our virtual mapper.

Colonial Ceramics

Explore our database of colonial ceramics. In the late 1990s, USA examined colonial pottery found along the Gulf Coast. The pottery types include French faience, Spanish colonial majolicas, and a few specimens of Dutch and English delfts.

Documentary Resources

Learn more about early French colonization of Mobile through the Mandeville and St. Lambert Papers. Gabriel Philippe de Hautmesnil de Saint-Lambert and his brother François Philippe de Hautmesnil de Marigny de Mandeville came to Mobile in 1705.

French Colonies in America

Mobile isn’t the only important French colonial site in the US. Between Verrazano's visit to the Atlantic coastline in 1524 and the end of the Seven Years War in 1763, the French visited nearly every corner of North America.