..........I seal all found artifacts in a ziplok, on which I write the GPS co-ordinates where found, and send them off to the museums/universities nearest where found to protect our history....
Do you mean any kind of rock/mineral or just things like arrowheads/fossils?
..........thank you for your question Suzie. I mean specifically historical artifacts, i.e., arrowhheads and other indian and prehistoric artifacts, and also historic relics of past civilization including relics of past history on our continent and of our nation. These are specifically outlined in the laws governing BLM and all national public lands areas in the United States, as pertains to what people are allowed to collect on Public Lands, check'em out at webpage blm.gov. I don't make the rules, but I both support them, and sometimes appeal them, by writing to our state and national legislatures.
As far as collecting rocks and fossils, we do have many areas of public lands that allow public collection of gemstones, rocks, and fossils with or without fees, i.e., Oregon Sunstone Collection Area-Free/BLM, Idaho Emerald Creek Garnet Collection Dig Area-Fee Dig/USFS, and Utah Fossil National Park-Fee Dig Sites/USFS, Arkansas Murfreesboro Crater of Diamonds-Fee Dig/ASP. There are many more I know or don't know about, but am constantly learning about and visiting, by information from other rockheads and collectors that I meet and know, or one on my prime sources Rock and Gem Magazine, and the internet. Happy collecting...
............PS: everybody is allowed to collect rocks and minerals on Public Lands limited to not more then 25 pounds on any one day, and 250 pounds per year, as long as you don't sale them. Pertrified wood not more then 25 pounds at any one day, or one up to 250 pound piece per year. Again as long as you don't sale them...
One place my beloved late wife and I liked was up in NE WA state in the little town of Republic where there is a County Park where you can pay a small fee to dig for fossils, that included Ferns, Leaves, Horsetails, Pine Cones, and various Bivalves, and Trilobites...
.........for collecting Diamonds in the United States, try this link.
view link
...............a Congressional Report on Collecting Fossils on Federal and Indian Lands. Very informative and enlightening. Please be aware of national laws regarding this. I have been charged, and my collections confistated earlier in my life when I was more brazen and a maverick. I guarantee you do not want to be charged as a "black marketeer". Become aware, and stay legal...
view link
Thanks, I'm pretty new at this and it's all very interesting, I wouldn't want to break the law. I've seen some areas posted. We have the Falls of the Ohio very close (an huge area of exposed fossil beds), it's posted that you are not allowed to remove fossils from from the park area. AND I've never taken a fossil...I have picked up an interesting rock or two and felt very guilty about it.
I own 40 acres of re-establishing worn out farm land. Rocks very close to the surface. My plan it to do a little exploring down there when the tick season is over. Afraid it's mostly limestone but you never know. We live in a karst area, several sink holes on the property. But would like to make it out west at some point.
All the arrowheads (3) I have were given to me. One was given to me by an Ojibwa friend, who now has passed on. What now?
My dad also had several, he picked up in plowed fields around here, not sure what ever happened to them. I'll ask my mom, my brother may have ended up with them, if so, my niece now has them.
.........Suzie, your forty acres sounds very cool. Really great caves can form in limestone full of Calcium Carbonate minerals like Marbles, Dolomite, Gypsum, Calcite, and Selenite, and often hollow cavities full of these minerals in crystal and stalagtite/stalagmite forms. As well, fossils are mostly found in Limestones, Mudstones, Siltstones, and Sandstones.
.........my friend Upnorthwomyn, if someone gives you an artifact you are not responcible for where it came from as far as I know, but please don't quote me. I am a convicted felon for "possession of stolen property" many years ago. That is why I won't run for political office. If a native american gives you an american indian's possession, it cannot be considered an artifact. Only an authentic piece, of which I own many; as I have friends from many different tribes all over north and central america. I also have a very white friend who was taught by a native how to knap, and his pieces are as authentic as they come, selling often for hundreds of dollars, and are even in museum collections. UNR's Anthropology Department bought one of his pieces believing it ten thousnad years old even though he told them he had made it, and they wouldn't believe him until he made another before their eyes in ten minutes. So sometimes there is a question of what is real or not. It is a statistic by our government that 20% of the american money flowing around the world is counterfeit, but who cares as long as you can buy stuff with it? It still makes global economy flow progressively. Why would we allow so much stuff manufactured in China if it was all just lousy knock-offs, all the consumer cares is that it looks or works well, and "if you can't beat them, join them". Right?......
