Any artifact legislation up North?

[Adena_man]

Kentucky has a bill in the Senate that is a little concerning. It is basically trying to require a permit to hunt artifacts (digging) on private land. The bill does not specify surface hunting at this time, but I'm a little concerned that it might be a start. It is tied in with a "graveyard bill", which would require landowners to maintain and provide road access to any graveyard on their land. This bill was narrowly defeated last year. Alabama and Florida have similar bills (minus the graveyard section) being pushed through at this time. I do not know if the bills have been defeated or sent on through. I'm really not sure of the actual wording of the Alabama/Florida bills or what regulations they propose. I do know that they have to do with artifact regulation. I have also heard of a 50 year rule.

Are there any similar bills being introduced in any of the northern states or anywhere else?

[Cannonman17]

I haven't heard of anything recently (Wisconsin) but it wouldn't suprise me. To be 100% honest with you I don't follow along with what is going on in terms of laws pertaining to this anywhere near as much as I should.... and that's how they do it... you have long time collectors and lovers of the hobby like me that don't pay too much attention until it's too late and then BAMM! one day somebody tells you that you're not supposed to be doing "that" anymore. I would be interested in any news about this also, wether it be "up North" or anywhere in the country, we should all try to stay informed.

[fossis]

Many Universities are (giving back) artifacts to the tribes, The Smithsonian has also given back Artifacts & remains.
In Oklahoma, if you are caught digging on State or Corp of Engineers land, one third of your collection can be taken.

Fossis...................

[Adena_man]

I would really hate to see our hobby regulated. The Kentucky bill mentioned burial items. How would they define a burial item? More importantly, who would define a burial item? The local sheriff? A state agent? It is pretty far-reaching for me to say that someday your pockets could be searched for "burial items" and then have them confiscated. But it is something to think about. I've been voicing my opinions\concerns about this bill to our representatives and senators. Again, I doubt that it would get to surface collecting. They are definitely after diggers though. I'm just going to keep enjoying this hobby for as long as I can!

[Cannonman17]

they are after the diggers because there are some unscrupulous diggers who don't give a darn...when I did a reevaluation of the effigy/conical mounds in my county when I was in college I found that nearly half of them had been dug up and/or looted. Now when these people are caught I do believe their stuff should be taken. Secondly (and this will probably be a very unpopular point of view) there are some/many/even most diggers who just don't know what they are doing, I mean we could have a unique cultural component, undisturbed with good preservation, something archaeologists, if allowed to, could excavate and learn a tremendous amount from but rather than contact somebody about the site (out of fear and ignorance many times) it just gets dug up and run through screens with no notes taken, no feature maps, no grid excavation, no carbon dates, no nothing but the artifacts. Think about how much is lost this way? I know I know, archaeologists are all evil and horrible. Well I've had a different experience with them, I worked with one over the course of six years and excavated a number of sites where we learned a great deal of information, some of these sites were on private land, all were with permission, and the land owners and the archaeologists were both happy. From all the stuff I hear or read on here I am starting to believe that these types of positive experiences are the exception to the rule. Anyways, I look back at some of the sites we excavated and I can't imagine what would have happened or what would have been lost if it had been dug. Understand that I'm not saying you shouldn't dig, by all means, armature rescue excavation is very important in my book and I am a firm believer in that, but if you have an undiscovered village site turning up some unique artifacts and it is largely undisturbed then one may want to at least consider contacting somebody....around here I could all but guarantee the experience would pan out for all concerned parties.

[jbl04410]

**Many Universities are (giving back) artifacts to the tribes, The Smithsonian has also given back Artifacts & remains.
In Oklahoma, if you are caught digging on State or Corp of Engineers land, one third of your collection can be taken.**



Fossis,I understand the need for penalties,but how in the $%%^^&&& did they come up with one-third of a collection,especially if the collection is made up of stuff from different states or purchased