Legal ownership and archaeological context are part of authenticity, not administrative details.
Protected public lands
National Park Service battlefield and archaeological resources are protected. Relic hunting, possessing metal detectors, digging, and removing historic objects are prohibited on NPS property. Other federal, state, tribal, local, cemetery, and battlefield lands have additional rules.
Private land is not automatic permission
Obtain the landowner’s informed permission and confirm state and local law, easements, cemetery protections, archaeological restrictions, and ownership of recovered material. Document where, when, by whom, and under what permission an object was recovered.
Unknown ordnance
Never touch, move, clean, transport, mail, or sell an unknown shell, fuze, cartridge, grenade, explosive component, or potentially loaded weapon. Keep people away and contact local authorities.
Human remains and funerary material
Do not collect, buy, sell, or disturb human remains or grave-associated material. Contact appropriate authorities and descendant or tribal communities as required by law and ethical practice.
Confederate and racist material
Historical objects can document slavery, white supremacy, secession, violence, emancipation, resistance, and postwar memory. Describe context accurately rather than sanitizing or glorifying it.