Country rules · Israel · artifacts
Israel: artifacts
Antiquities discovered after 1978 are state property; only licensed dealers may trade; every export needs the IAA Director's written approval; ossuaries, sarcophagi, architectural stone and inscribed material cannot be exported.
Israel permits a licensed trade. Antiquities discovered after 1978 are state property; only licensed dealers may trade; every export needs the IAA Director's written approval; ossuaries, sarcophagi, architectural stone and inscribed material cannot be exported. Governing law: Antiquities Law 5738-1978. Stratum asks for the licensed dealer's invoice and the export approval reference; an object documented outside the country before 1978 is sold with that document cited.
US courts have applied foreign patrimony laws through the National Stolen Property Act (United States v. McClain, 1977; United States v. Schultz, 2003): an object exported after a clear vesting law can be stolen property in the United States even when no US import restriction existed at the time. The date of the earliest document that places an object outside Israel is therefore the single most valuable fact on its record.
Sources
Cite this article
Stratum Study. "Israel: artifacts" (Law & ethics). Stratum Study pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-20. https://stratum.black/study/law/archaeology-israel. Accessed 2026-09-21.
@misc{stratum-archaeology-israel,
title = {Israel: artifacts},
author = {{Stratum Study}},
howpublished = {\url{https://stratum.black/study/law/archaeology-israel}},
year = {2026},
note = {Law & ethics article, Stratum Study pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-20; sources: stratum. Accessed 2026-09-21.}
} Citations carry the pack version and the article's as-of date so they resolve to the same text later. The facts themselves belong to the sources listed below; cite those for the science.