Members of the University of Alabama's Office of Archaeological Research are in the middle of a project to rehabilitate a collection of tens of thousands of artifacts first gathered in Alabama during the 1930s and 1940s.
The work began in February. It’s a collaborative effort between the Tennessee Valley Authority, which owns the collection, and the university, which is curating it and creating a comprehensive database for the government-owned power company.
The collection includes tens of thousands of pieces spanning a 13,000-year time period. The artifacts range from Native American life items to European trade goods. They were collected by archaeologists and researchers in the Guntersville, Wheeler and Pickwick reservoir basins in the 1930s and 1940s before those sites were inundated with water.
The TVA wants to see more academic research conducted using the artifacts, and hopes the database will allow more students to access the materials. The researchers expect it will take several years to fully catalog the massive collection.
It has only been out a week, but Alabama author Harper Lee’s long-awaited second novel has sold more than one million copies. APR’s MacKenzie Bates has the details.
HarperCollins publishing released the numbers yesterday. It shows that one-point-one million copies of Go Set A Watchman have reached the hands of fans across the country and in Canada.
The publisher stunned the world in February when it revealed that a second novel was coming from Harper Lee, even though Lee had long insisted that To Kill a Mockingbird would be her only book. Watchman was completed before Mockingbird, but is set 20 years later.
Critics dismissed it as a rough draft for To Kill a Mockingbird and readers despaired over an aging, racist Atticus Finch.
Heat advisories are expected to continue throughout central and southern Alabama today.
The city of Alabaster is providing cooling stations as temperatures continue to soar throughout the state. Free bottles of water, misting fans and shade are provided at the stations.
Mayor Marty Handlon says she has received very positive feedback since installing the cooling stations last weekend.
“The most important thing is making sure our residents are able to enjoy the quality of life that they have in their community, so I feel like it is important to have that safety net of hydrating and cooling off in the shade.”
Cooling stations are located at several of Alabaster’s city parks including Veterans Park, Municipal Park, Buck Creek Park, and Abbey Wooley Park.