Pennsylvania: artifacts

Private land: The History Code does not regulate private land and expressly bars the Commission from investigating private property without owner consent; collecting is a matter of landowner permission. (37 Pa.C.S. § 507.) The landowner's permission is the baseline everywhere; Pennsylvania's statute says how it must be given.

State land — Permit required: The Commonwealth reserves the exclusive right to conduct archaeological field investigations on resources it owns or controls, including submerged lands; the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission may issue permits, and specimens collected become Commonwealth property. Investigating without a permit or appropriating, defacing or altering sites or specimens on Commonwealth land is a third-degree misdemeanor (up to $2,500 and one year) with forfeiture of finds. (37 Pa.C.S. §§ 506, 511.) 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 — State property: Section 506 extends the Commission's responsibility and the permit requirement to archaeological resources on Commonwealth lands including submerged lands; beds of navigable rivers held by the Commonwealth therefore fall under the same rule. (37 Pa.C.S. § 506.)

Burials: Pennsylvania has no dedicated unmarked burial statute (a 2021 Center for Rural Pennsylvania report confirms the gap). Intentionally desecrating a burial place is a second-degree misdemeanor, rising to a first-degree misdemeanor for historic burial places 100+ years old or on the National Register; abuse of corpse is a second-degree misdemeanor. (18 Pa.C.S. §§ 5509, 5510.) Funerary objects are also NAGPRA cultural items under federal law and cannot be sold at all.

Sale: No statute found that restricts sale of artifacts; specimens taken from Commonwealth land are subject to forfeiture.

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.