Notice2025-22923
Notice of Inventory Completion: University of Alabama Museums, Tuscaloosa, AL
Primary source
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Published
December 16, 2025
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentNational Park Service
Abstract
In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the University of Alabama Museums has completed an inventory of human remains and has determined that there is a cultural affiliation between the human remains and Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 239 (Tuesday, December 16, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 239 (Tuesday, December 16, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58290-58291]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-22923]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[N6647; NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0041381; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]
Notice of Inventory Completion: University of Alabama Museums,
Tuscaloosa, AL
AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice.
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[[Page 58291]]
SUMMARY: In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and
Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the University of Alabama Museums has
completed an inventory of human remains and has determined that there
is a cultural affiliation between the human remains and Indian Tribes
or Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice.
DATES: Repatriation of the human remains in this notice may occur on or
after January 15, 2026.
ADDRESSES: Send written requests for repatriation of the human remains
in this notice to Dr. William Bomar, Executive Director, University of
Alabama Museums, Box 870340, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#fa989895979b88ba8f9bd49f9e8f"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="8ae8e8e5e7ebf8caffeba4efeeff">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice is published as part of the
National Park Service's administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA.
The determinations in this notice are the sole responsibility of the
University of Alabama Museums, and additional information on the
determinations in this notice, including the results of consultation,
can be found in its inventory or related records. The National Park
Service is not responsible for the determinations in this notice.
Abstract of Information Available
Human remains representing, at least, four individuals have been
identified. No associated funerary objects are present. Between 2014
and 2016, human remains representing, at minimum, four individuals were
found eroding out of the shoreline from Site 1Tu500, the Moundville
site, during efforts to stabilize the shoreline abutting the site. In
the late 1980s a small portion of the shoreline near the Jones
Conference Center was stabilized as part of a US Army Corps of
Engineers (USACE) project. That effort served its function, protecting
the site by maintaining the integrity of the shoreline.
However, the portion of the riverbank upstream, near the mouth of
Carthage Branch experienced erosion at an accelerated rate; much faster
than in the past 85 years (based on comparisons of georeferenced aerial
imagery dating back to 1938). The high terrace on which the site is
located is comprised of beds of gravelly sand and clay deposits. An
apparent shift in the thalweg has caused the undercutting of the bank
and large slumps occurred as the differential weathering of clay and
sands created overhangs. A clay shelf lies at the base of the submerged
slope and a shift in the main current resulted in rapid deterioration
since sometime after 2009.
On November 5, 2014, one individual was found eroding from the
shoreline. Two sets of human remains were also found in January 2015
and another set of human remains were found in April 2016. The exposed
remains were only portions of the burials which remain in the
riverbank.
Moundville, a large mound complex on the banks of the Black Warrior
River whose occupation spans the Late Woodland and the West Jefferson
phase through the Moundville I, II, and III phases, and terminates in
the Late Mississippian/Protohistoric Moundville IV phase, has been the
subject of two centuries of archaeological inquiry. No known
individuals were identified. No associated funerary objects are
present.
Cultural Affiliation
Based on the information available and the results of consultation,
cultural affiliation is clearly identified by the information available
about the human remains described in this notice.
Determinations
The University of Alabama Museums has determined that:
<bullet> The human remains described in this notice represent the
physical remains of four individuals of Native American ancestry.
<bullet> There is a connection between the human remains described
in this notice and the Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town; Coushatta Tribe
of Louisiana; Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians; Seminole Tribe of
Florida; The Chickasaw Nation; The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma; The
Muscogee (Creek) Nation; The Seminole Nation of Oklahoma with letters
of support from the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas and the Jena Band
of Choctaw Indians.
Requests for Repatriation
Written requests for repatriation of the human remains in this
notice must be sent to the authorized representative identified in this
notice under ADDRESSES. Requests for repatriation may be submitted by:
1. Any one or more of the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian
organizations identified in this notice.
2. Any lineal descendant, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian
organization not identified in this notice who shows, by a
preponderance of the evidence, that the requestor is a lineal
descendant or an Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization with
cultural affiliation.
Repatriation of the human remains described in this notice to a
requestor may occur on or after January 15, 2026. If competing requests
for repatriation are received, the University of Alabama Museums must
determine the most appropriate requestor prior to repatriation.
Requests for joint repatriation of the human remains are considered a
single request and not competing requests. The University of Alabama
Museums is responsible for sending a copy of this notice to the Indian
Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations identified in this notice.
Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act,
25 U.S.C. 3003, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.10.
Dated: November 20, 2025.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2025-22923 Filed 12-15-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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