1896 Mardi Gras Badge
Channel: Advisory Council on Underwater Archaeology
Date: 21/12/2023

Archaeologists from the University of South Alabama Center for Archaeological Studies and Wiregrass Archaeological Consulting excavated this 1896 Mardi Gras Badge at the Union Hall Site in downtown Mobile, Alabama during the I-10 Mobile River Bridge Archaeology Project. Mardi Gras (as we know it today) is thought to have originated in Mobile and is a staple of Gulf Coast culture. The badge reminds us of how much Mardi Gras traditions have (and haven’t) changed through time.