South Carolina: artifacts

Private land: Entering another's land to disturb or excavate a site for archaeological resources without permission is a criminal offense with civil liability to the landowner; collecting with owner permission is lawful. (S.C. Code § 16-11-780.) The landowner's permission is the baseline everywhere; South Carolina's statute says how it must be given.

State land — Prohibited: It is unlawful to wilfully enter the posted lands of the State (or the lands of another) and disturb or excavate a prehistoric or historic site to discover or remove an archaeological resource; first offense is a magistrate-level misdemeanor, second a misdemeanor up to $3,000 or three years, third a felony up to five years, with equipment forfeiture and civil recovery. No general statutory permit route for terrestrial state land was located; the State Archaeologist (SCIAA) conducts investigations. (S.C. Code § 16-11-780; § 60-13-210.) 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 — Hobby licence: Submerged archaeological and paleontological property on state-owned bottoms belongs to the state, but the Underwater Antiquities Act lets the SC Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology issue hobby licenses for recreational, non-commercial hand collection of exposed artifacts and fossils (max ten artifacts per day from shipwreck sites, no dredges or excavation) with quarterly reports; title to reported items passes to the licensee if the Institute does not claim them within 60 days. Hobby violations are misdemeanors with fines up to $50 per day. (S.C. Code §§ 54-7-630, 54-7-660, 54-7-670, 54-7-810.)

Burials: Destroying, damaging or removing any part of human remains from a grave, burial ground or Native American burial ground, or desecrating a cemetery or grave marker, is a felony punishable by 1 to 10 years and up to $5,000; stealing items from around a repository of remains is separately punished. (S.C. Code § 16-17-600.) 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 as such; hobby licensees receive title to unclaimed reported finds, while unreported or excavated submerged material remains state property.

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.