Alabama University Completes Inventory Before Returning Native American Remains
Published Date: 11/12/2026
Notice
Summary
Auburn University at Montgomery has finished checking their collection and found Native American human remains linked to specific tribes like the Absentee Shawnee and Alabama-Coushatta. Starting December 14, 2026, these remains can be returned to the tribes. This process respects Native American heritage and involves no costs or hazards.
Analyzed Economic Effects
3 provisions identified: 3 benefits, 0 costs, 0 mixed.
One Native American Ancestor Available for Return
Auburn University at Montgomery has identified human remains representing at least one Native American individual that it affiliates with a list of tribes (including the Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma; Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas; Cherokee Nation; Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana; Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma; Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians; Poarch Band of Creek Indians; Seminole Tribe of Florida; Shawnee Tribe; The Muscogee (Creek) Nation; and others). The remains were donated to AUM in 1975 and are eligible for repatriation on or after December 14, 2026.
Who Can Request Repatriation and How
Written requests for repatriation must be sent to Elizabeth Brazelton at Auburn University at Montgomery (P.O. Box 244023, Montgomery, AL 36124; email [email protected]). Requests may be submitted by any one or more of the tribes named in the notice or by any lineal descendant, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian organization that shows by a preponderance of the evidence cultural affiliation. If competing requests are received, Auburn University at Montgomery will decide the most appropriate requestor; joint requests are treated as a single request.
No Funerary Objects or Hazardous Treatment Reported
The notice states there are no associated funerary objects present with the human remains and that no known hazardous substances were used to treat the remains or associated items. The original donor removed the individual from a burial described as an 'Indian of the late 18th Century' and left other items at the site.
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