Missouri: artifacts

Private land: No statute restricts surface collecting or digging on private land with the owner's permission; the Missouri Archaeological Society recommends surface collection only. Unmarked burial protections apply everywhere. (.) The landowner's permission is the baseline everywhere; Missouri's statute says how it must be given.

State land — Permit required: Missouri has no general antiquities statute; protection of state land is by regulation. State park rules bar removing soil, rock, artifacts or relics and any excavation in state parks and historic sites without written permission of the director, and Department of Conservation rules bar digging or excavating on conservation areas except under a letter of authorization. (10 CSR 90-2.040(2); 3 CSR 10-11.110.) ARPA §470ee(c) makes the interstate sale of anything taken against state law a federal offence, so a dealer in another state is bound by this rule too.

Navigable waters and submerged lands — Unclear: No statute addresses ordinary artifacts on riverbeds; the Department of Conservation says public ownership of the Missouri River extends only to the ordinary low-water mark and sandbar collecting may be legal, while salvage or excavation of historic shipwrecks requires a DNR permit (Class A misdemeanor otherwise). (RSMo § 253.420.)

Burials: Knowingly disturbing, destroying, vandalizing or damaging a marked or unmarked human burial site is a Class E felony; discovery of unmarked remains requires stopping work within 50 feet and notifying the State Historic Preservation Officer or law enforcement. (RSMo §§ 194.406, 194.410.) Funerary objects are also NAGPRA cultural items under federal law and cannot be sold at all.

Sale: Knowingly selling, purchasing, transporting for sale or profiting from human remains or cultural items obtained in violation of the unmarked burial law is a Class A misdemeanor (Class E felony on repeat). No restriction found on selling other artifacts. (RSMo § 194.410.)

This article is generated from Stratum's state table as of 2026-09-20, from the statute pages listed below. It states the rule as written; it is not legal advice. Verify locally before relying on a permit route, and treat any penalty figure as a spot-check item.