| Archeological Laws |
| I have had a few people ask me about laws, ethics, and morals of archaeological issues. I decided to add this section on the laws. I decided on laws because they are concrete issues that affect everyone. As far as moral and ethical issues, I will not address them at this time. These issues are very fluid and your stand on them will depend on your beliefs, feelings, and where you were raised. If you would like to read about moral and ethical issues you should be able to find some web pages dedicated to these issues. There are some very strict laws concerning archeology. You should take the time to read them if you are not familiar with them. In addition to the laws there are some moral and ethical issues. I will not address them here, but you may be able to find them out on the web. Below are the links to the Federal laws pertaining to archaeological artifacts. |
| In addition to Federal laws, states also have laws regarding archeological resources. Each state is different, but most follow the same laws as the Federal government does. In some cases, state laws are more stringent than the Federal laws. Make sure you read the laws for your state. The best place to find these laws are on the home page of your Archaeological Society. You can find links to every states Archeological Society on my links page. Make sure that you know the law. The Supreme Court has ruled that you do not need to know the law to be held accountable for it. There are many people who are prosecuted that had no idea what they was doing was illegal. as they say "Ignorance of the law is no defense". These laws pertain to both finding artifacts as well as buying or selling them. You should also know that these laws are enforced. I have heard people say that "my state does not care'. Truth is that every state cares as well as the Federal government. In fact, the Federal government has criminal investigators and attorneys whose only job is to find and prosecute people who break archaeological laws. They do not care what state you are in, all Federal lands are treated the same. State governments feel the same way as the Federal government so don't belief what others tell you. |