Indiana: artifacts

Private land: Regardless of land ownership, a person may not recklessly, knowingly or intentionally disturb the ground to discover, uncover or move artifacts (objects made or used before Dec. 31, 1870), burial objects or human remains except under a plan approved by the Department; violation is a Class A misdemeanor (Level 6 felony if human remains are involved). The statute does not address surface collecting, and landowner permission is still needed to enter land. (Ind. Code §§ 14-21-1-2, 14-21-1-25, 14-21-1-26.) The landowner's permission is the baseline everywhere; Indiana's statute says how it must be given.

State land — Permit required: Conducting field investigations or altering historic property on land owned or leased by the state without a permit is a Class A infraction (fine up to $5,000); permits and plan approval run through the Department of Natural Resources (Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology). (Ind. Code § 14-21-1-16.) 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 — Unclear: No provision specific to riverbeds or submerged lands was found in IC 14-21-1; the state-land rule turns on state ownership or lease.

Burials: Disturbing ground within 100 feet of a burial ground without an approved development plan is a Class A misdemeanor, rising to a Level 6 felony if human remains or grave markers are disturbed; discovering artifacts or burial objects during other ground work requires stopping and notifying the Department within two business days. (Ind. Code §§ 14-21-1-26.5, 14-21-1-27, 14-21-1-28, 14-21-1-29.) Funerary objects are also NAGPRA cultural items under federal law and cannot be sold at all.

Sale: Knowingly or intentionally receiving, retaining or disposing of artifacts, burial objects or human remains obtained in violation of the chapter is possession of looted property, a Level 6 felony (Level 5 if investigation cost of the damaged area exceeds $100,000). (Ind. Code § 14-21-1-36.)

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.

Sources

Cite this article

Stratum Study. "Indiana: artifacts" (Law & ethics). Stratum Study pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-20. https://stratum.black/study/law/archaeology-us-indiana. Accessed 2026-09-21.

BibTeX · CSL-JSON

@misc{stratum-archaeology-us-indiana,
  title        = {Indiana: artifacts},
  author       = {{Stratum Study}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://stratum.black/study/law/archaeology-us-indiana}},
  year         = {2026},
  note         = {Law & ethics article, Stratum Study pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-20; sources: stratum. Accessed 2026-09-21.}
}

Citations carry the pack version and the article's as-of date so they resolve to the same text later. The facts themselves belong to the sources listed below; cite those for the science.

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