is it illegal to dig up old stuff?

[neo]

I read somewhere online you can't dig up anything over 100 years old is this true?

 

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[neo]

Or is it just illegal in state Parks?

 

[releventchair]

Kind of hard to say you can,t dig it up unless you know what it is already but on non private land and on state or federal you want to search laws for each ,but not by asking the authorities in my opinion.

American Antiquities Act of 1906 (16USC431-433)

 

[Hot zone]

You are not supposed to pick up an arrowhead you see lying on the ground... Silly, someone will pick it up! Say, you are at a picnic and your 7 year old shows you an arrowhead found down by the creek... And you tell her to put it back exactly where you found it right now? Another child picks it up and is allowed to keep it! Gosh,I guess you just had a teachable moment!
If I dug up something that was 99 years old and added it to my collection: I would keep it for a year and then go put it back!

 

[Hot zone]

Kind of hard to say you can,t dig it up unless you know what it is already but on non private land and on state or federal you want to search laws for each ,but not by asking the authorities in my opinion.

American Antiquities Act of 1906 (16USC431-433)

there in lies the rub! The antiquities Act in its broadly interpreted language has seemingly empowered archeologists to determine what is an Archeologist site and what they deem will further the knowledge of the past!
Absolute power corrupts absolutely!

 

[neo]

So would gold panning be illegal under that definition?

 

[jeff of pa]

I set my detector to ignore Illegal stuff

 

[pat-tekker-cat]

"is it illegal to dig up old stuff?"

Well if that's the case, my step-mom can officially be charged! LOL!
Yep, Happy Motha's day!

 

[Rockdigger2]

If you've got a kid take em with you! You'd have to be some kinda a hole to stop a father and son playin in the park!

 

[Hot zone]

Archeologists of old were not unlike the amateur of today....it was a poor living requiring lots of dedication and basically a passion for it! ...The biggest difference about them today is they get government check, have power and being self important can make a big deal out of the trivial! They own the past, they Interpret it, and basically perpetuate their dogma... Just look at the conflicting views of Pharaoh Djadafre... The story you or I make up about some piece of junk we found is just as credible and we don't feel the need to teach our theory to a generation of school children, to have it overturned by the next... The rewriting of history happens all the time... Often when the winning side is no longer in power!

 

[Tom_in_CA]

neo, that would only apply to federal parks, and *some* state parks, with cultural heritage verbage. But not to other forms of land (unless specifically incorporated, and drawn in by inclusion). And let's be quite frank here: Is anyone following you or I or any of us around with a calculator, doing the math on the age of each coin you find ? I mean, seriously now.

 

[Hot zone]

An example of how archeologists put there spin on history is their debunking of Custer's Last Stand... Like it never happened based on how few spent Gov. Brass cartridges were found... They assume no one picked up the shinny brass when it was illegal to sell center fire government ammo to Indians and given the fact that American Indians invented reloading... They punched a hole in the center and inserted a percussion cap with a small stone inserted for an anvil to ignite it...their own Henry and open top revolver rimfire ammo and not illegal to aquire on the otherhand was nearly useless brass!

In other words Custer was supposed to have been overwhelmed so fast that a last stand never occurred! I think different!

 

[neo]

I read a book claiming that archeolgists also didn't believe the city of Troy didn't exist until s treasure hunter found it.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

neo, it's amazing how much credibility is given to the know-how of archies, isn't it? I was watching a TV documentary of some archie work in Europe. The archie was telling the viewer how some swords were ending up at the bottom of a lake around piers. They said that it was some sort of ritualistic sacrifice, like a ceremony or some such nonsense. But as ANY md'r knows, people accidentally drop stuff over the side of piers/wharves ALL THE TIME.

Or how about the archies digging in an indian midden site somewhere up in OR or WA. They found a chinese cash coin that dated to the 1600s I think it was (you know, those coins with the square hole in the middle). So the archies were "besides themselves with glee" thinking this somehow proved the Chinese were in the pacific northwest before the Europeans got there, blah blah. But as any md'r on the west coast knows, those cash coins are everywhere. And can date to 100 to 200 yrs. old, even when they arrived here (hence the mintage date has utterly no bearing on circulation date).

Examples go on and on.

 

[neo]

I think the laws should be like Britains where mders and Archie's could work together.

 

[Hot zone]

Yes, They can make up anything they want! Until someone challenges them or discredits their theory, everyone takes it as true!

Exactly... It's the good old boys (our congressmen) most all of them since Abraham Lincoln who have been to college that reward their alumnus's with jobs!

 

[cjrjr507]

I have a problem with that antiquities act. If your metal detecting coins and other stuff in the year 2064 then all clad coins from 1964 and on up will be illegal to dig. Ha ha ha. Hmmm. But I'll be long since dead anyways. heh heh

 

[neo]

Only dig stuff older than 200 lol

 

[Tom_in_CA]

I have a problem with that antiquities act. If your metal detecting coins and other stuff in the year 2064 then all clad coins from 1964 and on up will be illegal to dig. Ha ha ha. Hmmm. But I'll be long since dead anyways. heh heh

then you're going by the "100 yr" rule. Others have claimed it's "50 yrs".

BUT AGAIN: When was the last time you ever had an archaeologist follow you around with a calculator, doing the math on the age of each coin you found ?

And as for me? Well .... my math never was too good anyways, durnit .

 

[Hot zone]

then you're going by the "100 yr" rule. Others have claimed it's "50 yrs".

BUT AGAIN: When was the last time you ever had an archaeologist follow you around with a calculator, doing the math on the age of each coin you found ?

And as for me? Well .... my math never was too good anyways, durnit .

if I buy a 200 year old antique and loose it, am I breaking a law to find it? The mint date of a coin is not the date it was lost either... Makes it kind of hard too prove otherwise! Just claim your buddy buried it for you to find...