Corpusfishing.com

[larry meinert]

This subject has come up several times before with nothing definitive. Can you keep the arrowheads you find on the beach if you ever get lucky? The national seashore rules don’t cover this, though most seashells are petrified much older than any arrowhead. I did find allot about excavating and removal and resale of stuff from national parks but at the end of all that, I found this; (g) Removal of arrowheads located on ground surface
Nothing in subsection (d) of this section shall be deemed applicable to any person with respect to the removal of arrowheads located on the surface of the ground.
Someone help me here. The argument would be; leave it for someone else to see. What are the odds? If you put it back in the dunes, it would be gone forever in 1 hour. If you put it in the surf, it would be gone in 1 minute.

[ironmanstan]

to me its just an arrow head, if you stuck it in your pocket would i care ...no. Because if i found one i would stick it in my pocket. If you found a piece of gold would you toss it back? What do the park employees do when they find an artifact small enough to stick in there pocket ? not saying they do, but i dont care. better found than lost. just my opinion only. in thirty years when im dead will it make a difference then?
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I LIKE MINE FRIED.

[landlocked beachbum]

I tend to agree. Bureauocrats make rules and regulations as a matter of course, They don't have to make sense [$60.00 for a non resident to fish in Texas for a week], no matter what agency they work for. An arrowhead laying on the beach has done well to make it that far. If it's put back on the beech the next person will either take it home or accidentally run over it and smash it to hell and gone. Then, it's not doing anyone any good. I would rather have or see an arrow head up on the wall than broken, laying in the sand. And like IMS says, I'll bet that the park employees everywhere have GREAT artifact collections!
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Dave


"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has it's limits". Albert Einstein

[The Trash Heap]

American Antiquities Act of 1906
16 USC 431-433
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That any person who shall appropriate, excavate, injure, or destroy any historic or prehistoric ruin or monument, or any object of antiquity, situated on lands owned or controlled by the Government of the United States, without the permission of the Secretary of the Department of the Government having jurisdiction over the lands on which said antiquities are situated, shall, upon conviction, be fined in a sum of not more than five hundred dollars or be imprisoned for a period of not more than ninety days, or shall suffer both fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court.

Sec. 2. That the President of the United States is hereby authorized, in his discretion, to declare by public proclamation historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest that are situated upon the lands owned or controlled by the Government of the United States to be national monuments, and may reserve as a part thereof parcels of land, the limits of which in all cases shall be confined to the smallest area compatible with proper care and management of the objects to be protected: Provided, That when such objects are situated upon a tract covered by a bona fied unperfected claim or held in private ownership, the tract, or so much thereof as may be necessary for the proper care and management of the object, may be relinquished to the Government, and the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized to accept the relinquishment of such tracts in behalf of the Government of the United States.

Sec. 3. That permits for the examination of ruins, the excavation of archaeological sites, and the gathering of objects of antiquity upon the lands under their respective jurisdictions may be granted by the Secretaries of the Interior, Agriculture, and War to institutions which the may deem properly qualified to conduct such examination, excavation, or gathering, subject to such rules and regulation as they may prescribe: Provided, That the examinations, excavations, and gatherings are undertaken for the benefit of reputable museums, universities, colleges, or other recognized scientific or educational institutions, with a view to increasing the knowledge of such objects, and that the gatherings shall be made for permanent preservation in public museums.

Sec. 4. That the Secretaries of the Departments aforesaid shall make and publish from time to time uniform rules and regulations for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this Act.

Approved, June 8, 1906

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The State of Texas has rules modelled on the Antiquities Act.

I suspect this is another case where the posters already knew the rules applied to them, and just wanted to rationalize a different outcome. The bottom line is that even surface collecting of artifacts on public or private lands destroys even the slightest possibility that their presence might lead to the discovery of more artifacts with better provenance/context and hence improve overall scientific knowledge of ancient cultures. Licenced archaeologists know this, and take pains to mark and map the location of surface finds, including sometimes just the flakes in a surface scatter, in order to zero in on the remnants of more significant value.

From another perspective, since law enforcement has only your word that you found a dart point at the water's edge, what's to prevent a judge from applying the penalties provided in the Act if it's found in your possession at PINS? Your arguments that by keeping it you were just saving it from being collected by a park employee or run over won't be worth warm spit.

Treat those artifacts like they were sea turtles: photograph and protect but otherwise leave them alone, mark the locations, and notify a ranger. The nation will be in your debt if you do. Get caught carting them away and the role will be reversed.
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The Trash Heap Has Spoken!
NNYYAAAHH!!!

[landlocked beachbum]

Something tells me that you may have too much time on your hands!
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Dave


"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has it's limits". Albert Einstein

[ironmanstan]

your right what are the chances of ironmanstan findind a chunk of gold on the national seashore, better yet , what are the chances that if ims finds a chunk of gold on pins, that he will toss it back and take a pic of it , and give the info to someone else. "0" Now if i find the ruins of a fort, a ship, or a pile of bones, i will pass the info along to the proper authorites, but i will dig around the ship ruins first....just incase.
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I LIKE MINE FRIED.

[No Name Morning Show]

I think the whole thing falls into the "What would a REAL GUY do" column:

If aliens came to Earth and handed you a cigar box sized instrument that would cure every illness and bring world peace would you:

A) Turn it over to the United Nations

B) Turn it over to the President of the United States

C) Turn it over to the PINS HQ

D) Take it apart and see how it works!


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Fish that have a near-death experience report seeing ME!

[ironmanstan]

i dont think i would take it apart, however i might start my own church or healing shows , and work my way up to the top from there.
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I LIKE MINE FRIED.

[The Trash Heap]

Most of the posters would shoot the device out of an alien's hands, wounding the alien, and the next thing you know his nine-foot-tall law enforcement robot would be vaporizing the planet.


Memorize these words: "Gort, Klaatu mirada nikto."
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The Trash Heap Has Spoken!
NNYYAAAHH!!!

[juanpescado]

I'd call his little green a$$ in for trespassing
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I,d rather DIE while i,m living than LIVE while i,m dead

www.wadeextremetexas.com
www.myspace.com/jpescado

[larry meinert]

dd) Cultural features and/or artifacts.
It is an offense to take, remove, destroy, deface, tamper with, or disturb any artifact or cultural feature except by permit issued by the director.

Artifacts: Objects used or modified by humans, including but not limited to arrow points,dart points: stone, bone or shell implements or any other prehistoric or historic objects

I have decided that after checking it out, the only thing to do is take a picture of any arrowhead I might find on the beach until I can get a permit from the director.

[The Trash Heap]

larry, please read Sec. 3 of the Antiquities Act again. Only institutions like museums and colleges may receive permits to take and keep artifacts found on federal public lands. Private individuals working for such institutions might receive subpermits to do the collecting, but wouldn't be permitted to put them in their private collections even then.

Back when I was an avocational (amateur) archeologist with the CBAS helping real state-certified archeologists work on private lands, I wasn't even allowed to help unless supervised by the pros, much less allowed to keep any artifacts recovered. I finally gave up the hobby when problems with my lower spine became too advanced to permit bending down in a hole for days on end. The last dig I was on was at a burial site along the Oso near the original site of the Botanical Gardens. What I called the Curse of the Karankawas put me in bed for a week.
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The Trash Heap Has Spoken!
NNYYAAAHH!!!

[CastnBlast]

FYI, in '69 congress inacted a bill that prohibits any US citizen from removing any alien vehicle or comunicating with such aliens in any form...And the US gov't says they have no proof that aliens exist...hmmm...then why inact the law??? Stupid congress I guess...No, i don't believe in aliens, and what the hell does that have to do with fishing...Just thought i'd throw that out there...
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Vegetarian (n)...Old indian word for bad hunter

[ironmanstan]

i'm still keeping the gold...that i havent found yet. and the aliens too i need someone to mow my grass so i can go fishing more.
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I LIKE MINE FRIED.

[kyle]