Alabama: artifacts

Private land: Exploration or excavation of aboriginal remains may not be done without the consent of the landowner and must not injure crops or buildings; the 1915 Act also asserts state ownership of objects in mounds and burial sites regardless of who owns the surface, while preserving the owner's agricultural and domestic uses. Non-residents are barred from excavating. (Ala. Code §§ 41-3-1, 41-3-3.) The landowner's permission is the baseline everywhere; Alabama's statute says how it must be given.

State land — Prohibited: The 1915 Antiquities Act reserves to the state the exclusive right to explore or excavate aboriginal mounds, earthworks, forts and burial sites anywhere in Alabama and declares objects found in them state property; unlawful exploration is a misdemeanor with a fine up to $1,000 per offense. No general permit route for private diggers is set out in the statute itself. (Ala. Code §§ 41-3-1, 41-3-6.) ARPA §470ee(c) makes the interstate sale of anything taken against state law a federal offence, so a dealer in another state is bound by this rule too.

Navigable waters and submerged lands — State property: The Underwater Cultural Resources Act declares abandoned shipwrecks and underwater archaeological artifacts on submerged lands under state-owned or controlled navigable waterways to be state property under the exclusive control of the Alabama Historical Commission; taking or excavating them requires a Commission permit or contract with approval of the Commissioner of Conservation. Commission rules say recreational divers need no permit but may not remove artifacts. Note the statutory definition limits covered resources to items unclaimed 50+ years and National Register-eligible. (Ala. Code §§ 41-9-291, 41-9-292, 41-9-294, 41-9-297; Ala. Admin. Code ch. 460-X-12.)

Burials: Desecrating a tomb, monument, burial mound or container of human remains, or invading or mutilating a corpse, is a Class C felony; damaging memorials or cemetery property is a Class A misdemeanor. Persons holding an Alabama Historical Commission permit are exempt. The 1915 Act separately claims state ownership of aboriginal burial sites and their contents. (Ala. Code § 13A-7-23.1; Ala. Code § 41-3-1.) Funerary objects are also NAGPRA cultural items under federal law and cannot be sold at all.

Sale: Non-residents may not explore or excavate aboriginal remains or carry or send away from the state any objects discovered in them (1915 Act). No statute found that generally bars sale of artifacts by residents; underwater cultural resources remain state property. (Ala. Code § 41-3-2.)

This article is generated from Stratum's state table as of 2026-09-20, from the statute pages listed below. It states the rule as written; it is not legal advice. Verify locally before relying on a permit route, and treat any penalty figure as a spot-check item.