The Alabama Historical Commission is gearing up to investigate a site that could be the ruins of the slave ship Clotilda, it says, and plans weekly updates on the project.

The Clotilda is believed to be the last ship to bring Africans to slavery in the United States; after the Civil War many of those transported aboard it as captives went on to found Mobile's Africatown community. When AL.com reporter Ben Raines reported in late January that he might have found the ruin of the ship, it generated international response and raised hopes among Africatown descendants and supporters. The site, which contains the buried remains of a wooden vessel, is consistent some significant details of the Clotilda story but has not been confirmed as the ship.

In a recently released statement, the Alabama Historical Commission (AHC) said that its duty is "to uphold the state law that manages and protects shipwrecks and archaeological sites in Alabama waters. After receiving the necessary permits and finalizing a research design, AHC will examine whether the vessel is, in fact, the Clotilda."

"The AHC staff is hard at work preparing our agency for this investigation," Lisa D. Jones, Executive Director of the Alabama Historical Commission, said in an AHC news release. "During this process we look forward to engaging with the local community."

The AHC said it expects work on the project to begin as early as this month, though it provided no details about what form "Phase I" work would take. It has created a webpage specifically for updates at ahc.alabama.gov. As of Monday, the page was empty except for a message indicating that the first update will be posted Friday, Feb. 9.

The AHC said it is "coordinating with local, state and national agencies" on the effort.