Upcoming Events
Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) Offering
USA Archaeology Museum
Oct. 8 - Nov. 2
The public and campus community is welcome to leave an offeringin honor of an ancestor and/or learn about the Mexican Day of the Dead holiday and tradition. Hosted by the USA Dept. of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work Community Engagement Committee.
Arkhaios Film Festival
USA Archaeology Museum
12: 15 pm, Submerged in the Indian Ocean (Sponsored by the USA Dept. of Sociology, Anthropology, & Social Work)
Director Sofia Leite, Producer Natacha Silva Frey, Rádio e Televisão de Portugal S.A., (Portugal)
The coast of Mozambique Island, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is also a submerged cemetery preserving centuries of maritime history. From a 16th-century Portuguese galleon to pre-colonial vessels, the island’s waters hold the remains of shipwrecks that bear witness to both the wealth and tragedy of maritime trade. Among the most emblematic is the French slave ship L’Aurore, which sank in 1790 with more than 300 enslaved people on board, following an attempted revolt and a violent storm that struck the Mozambican coast.
Since 2015, divers have been exploring the remains of this French slave ship—one of the most recently discovered and best-preserved wrecks. The expedition is coordinated by the Slave Wrecks Project, an international program of George Washington University and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). The initiative investigates the routes of the transatlantic slave trade and trains African and Afro-descendant archaeologists to document and preserve these histories of Black resistance. Through dives and scientific analysis, the team seeks to rewrite history by opening new perspectives on the slave trade. On Mozambique Island, they collaborate with CAIRIM, an archaeology and research center affiliated with Eduardo Mondlane University. The documentary team followed part of this investigation on Mozambique Island and also traveled to France, where they accessed historical archives and uncovered previously unseen documents about L’Aurore. These records help reconstruct the ship’s final voyage and shed new light on the events leading up to its sinking, as well as the resistance of the enslaved people on board.
6:30 pm, Angkor: Hidden Jungle Empire (Sponsored by USA International Studies)
Director Leif Kaldor, Producer Leslea Mair, Zoot Pictures, (Canada)
In 1300 CE, Angkor was possibly the biggest city in the world. It had – and still has - the largest religious monument in the world, Angkor Wat. It was the seat of kings, home to an empire for 600 years, an incredible feat of urban engineering in a flood plain and rainforest. Then it was abandoned, left to the jungle and a handful of farmers and monks for hundreds of years. Centuries later, what happened to the city of Angkor is still a mystery. There are no graves. No bodies. Not a single bone has been found from the millions who lived there over centuries. But Angkor has left secrets buried in the mud underneath the city of water that reveal visions of the grand civilization.
Arkhaios Film Festival
USA Archaeology Museum
12:15 pm, The First Americans (Sponsored by the USA Center for Archaeological Studies)
Director Chris Thorburn, Producer Crispin Sadler, Mallinson Sadler Productions, (United Kingdom)
At the end of the last Ice Age, the first humans migrated into the Americas. Some believe they traveled overland, but now archaeologists are looking to the coast. And what does a 13,000-year-old skeleton found in the Mexican jungle tell us about these people and their world? By draining a deep, underground cave, we reveal the new science rewriting the epic story of the first humans to live in the New World.
4 pm, The Secret Letters of Mary Queen of Scots (Sponsored by the USA Dept. of English)
Directors Augustin Viatte & Russel Barnes, Producers Valérie Guérin & Stéphane Millière, GEDEON Programmes & Lion TV, (France)
The Secret Letters of Mary Queen of Scots traces the extraordinary story of amateur codebreakers Satoshi Tomokiyo, George Lasry and Norbert Biermann who collaborated across continents to decipher a mysterious cache of coded letters and discovered they were from Mary Queen of Scots. With whispers of spies and a treacherous son, the unlocked codes bring new insights into Mary’s long years of captivity in Elizabethan England, her power plays, complaints and clandestine methods for communicating with her followers. Set against Mary’s dramatic journey - from infant queen, through civil war, abdication and years of captivity - the film examines the lengths Mary went to conceal her words and the ingenuity needed to decode her letters today, even with the help of 21st century computing.
Arkhaios Film Festival
USA Archaeology Museum
12:15 pm, Delphi: Navel of the World (Sponsored by the USA Dept. of Art & Art History)
Director Thibaud Marchand, Producers Agnes & Christie Molia, Tournez S'Il Vous Plait, (France)
Once upon a time, there was the center of the world. A city so famous and so powerful that the world seemed to revolve around it. Between the 8th century BC and the 4th century AD, Delphi was one of the jewels of Antiquity.
5 pm, The Neanderthals' Valley (Sponsored by the USA Dept. of Biology and TriBeta Biology Honor Society)
Directors Javier Trueba & Gabriela Villecco, Producer Gabriela Vilecco, MADRID SCIENTIFIC FILMS S.L., (Spain)
There is no more fascinating story than that of the Neanderthals, the other human species that shared the territory with our own for thousands of years. In the Lozoya River Valley, in the heart of the Iberian Peninsula, lies an enigma that challenges our perception of the past: a hidden sanctuary, a collection of skulls of large mammals deliberately arranged in a cave. Beyond hunting and survival, the Neanderthals left behind evidence of something profoundly human: the need to give meaning to their world. Each new piece of evidence brings us closer to a revelation: perhaps humanity did not begin with us, but was shared with those who came before us. A search for answers that ultimately confronts us with our own reflection in the mirror of time.
6 pm, Athens: Birth of Democracy (Sponsored by the USA Honors College)
Director Florence Tran, Producer Fabrice Esteve (YUZU Productions), Merit Jensen Carr (Merit Motion Pictures) ; Rea Apostolides (Anemon Productions), (France)
In the shadow of the Acropolis, a revolutionary idea was born that would change history. Athens: Birth of Democracy takes viewers to ancient Greece, where citizens seized power, challenging kings and tyrants to create democracy. Through discoveries, reenactments, and expert insight, the film reveals how democracy emerged from conflict and innovation, reminding us that this fragile system remains one of humanity’s most radical ideas.
Arkhaios Film Festival
USA Archaeology Museum
12:15 pm, Toba: The Volcano that Changed the World (Sponsored by the USA Dept. of Earth Sciences)
Director Franck Cuveillier, Producer Marie Anne Sorba, Fred Hilgemann Films, (France)
Through a series of five successive mega eruptions, around 70,000 years ago, the Toba volcano pushed humanity to its limits, causing a drastic decline in biodiversity and the human population on earth. But, this cataclysm would have at the same time pushed the survivors to evolve, forcing them to develop new behaviors essential to their survival.
Alabama Archaeology Day
USA Archaeology Museum
10 am - 3 pm
- Atlatl Throwing
- Living History Demonstrations
- Lab Activities & MORE
- Free and open to the public with fun for all ages!
Vampires & the Bioarchaeology of the Undead
USA Archaeology Museum
Hosted by the Alabama Archaeological Society SW Chapter
5 pm
Lesley Gregoricka, Ph.D., USA Anthropology Faculty
Can ancient skeletons give us clues about the origins of vampire myths in Eastern Europe? How did people bury their dead to stop vampires from attacking? Just in time for spooky season, come learn about how bioarchaeologists use human bones to learn about the identities of suspected vampires.
Bioarchaeologist Dr. Lesley A. Gregoricka is a Professor of Anthropology in the Department
of Sociology, Anthropology, & Social Work at the University of South Alabama. She
also serves as Director of the USA Forensic Science Program. She received her B.A.
from the University of Notre Dame and her M.A. and Ph.D. from The Ohio State University.
Dr. Gregoricka uses biogeochemical techniques to examine changing patterns of human
mobility, mortuary practices, paleodiet, and social complexity in Arabia, Nubia, southwest
Asia, and beyond.
6th Annual Creepy Crawly Halloween at the Museum
USA Archaeology Museum
10 am - 3 pm
- Creepy Crawly Show & Tell
at Noon with USA Biology - Pumpkin Painting
- Trick or Treat Trail
- Crafts, Face Painting, & MORE
- FREE
- ALL ARE WELCOME
Many thanks to the USA Dept. of Biology and the SSSTING Lab!
Grave Matters: Cemetery Care Workshop
9 am - 12:30 pm
The USA Archaeology Museum, Alabama Archaeological Society, and the Spanish Fort Public Library will host a cemetery care workshop in Spanish Fort, Alabama.
Learn about best practices in cemetery care including documentation, maintenance, and preservation in this free workshop hosted by the USA Archaeology Museum and the Alabama Archaeological Society.
First, we will meet at the Spanish Fort Public Library classroom space and then go to the Saluda Hill Cemetery for demonstrations and hands-on learning.
Meet at 9 am at Spanish Fort Public Library:
Spanish Fort Public Library
7361 Spanish Fort Boulevard
Spanish Fort, AL
Meet at 11 am at Saluda Hill Cemetery:
Saluda Hill Cemetery
34745 AL-225
Spanish Fort, AL