I have spent some time on arrowhead collecting forums and have been told by some collectors that it is legal to hunt arrowheads on Federal land in the US. This is only for arrowheads as all other forms of collecting/looting (depending on your views) are illegal on Government land. The law (more on that below) states:
(a) “No person may excavate, remove, damage, or otherwise alter or deface or attempt to excavate, remove, damage, or otherwise alter or deface any archaeological resource located on public lands or Indian lands unless such activity is pursuant to a permit issued” – Title 16 (conservation) U.S. Code § 470ee. You can read the full code here – https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/16/470ee
Some collectors, but not all, would tell me about something called the Carter loophole, named after the former president. Carter liked to collected arrowheads so an exception was made to archaeology laws, so the story goes.
You can see it in that law a few paragraphs down:
(g) Removal of arrowheads located on ground surface
Nothing in subsection (d) of this section shall be deemed applicable to any person with respect to the removal of arrowheads located on the surface of the ground.
Recently there was some discussion on the NMAC listserve about this loophole that has been very enlightening:
FYI, the so-called “Arrowhead Exception” was allegedly included in ARPA due to President Carter having a collection of same since his Boy Scouts merit badge days: he’d have to sign the legislation into law. It doesn’t make the collection of arrowheads on Federal or Indian lands legal, but per 16 USC 470 ee (g) exempts them from the penalties of ARPA under 16 USC 470 ee (d). Federal agencies still protect these heritage resources using their Code of Federal Regulations (36 & 43 CFR). Some “misguided public lands abusers” that have been cited and had points/arrowheads taken from them and into evidence have tried to use the exception under ARPA as a legal argument for this collecting to be OK. To date: this has failed as a legal strategy (and I still have some of the points which I use for educational purposes).PY
ARPA is the Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 and it is what I quoted at the beginning of this articles. If you buy and sell artefacts then you should be aware of the very next paragraph of the law:
“b) No person may sell, purchase, exchange, transport, receive, or offer to sell, purchase, or exchange any archaeological resource if such resource was excavated or removed from public lands or Indian lands”
But back to the loophole in the law,
“No penalty shall be assessed under this section for the removal of arrowheads located on the surface of the ground.”
As a retired federal archaeologist, my understanding & experience with this issue were that isolated arrowheads could be collected under ARPA, but this behavior could be (and was) cited by law enforcement as theft of government property. GFS
You may avoid penalties under ARPA but there are many regulations that the government can use to charge you with stealing government property. Read them all here- https://www.justice.gov/usam/usam-9-66000-protection-government-property
Actually, the punishment for theft of government property can be up to tens years, under ARPA the first time offense is one year max. You really don’t want to be charged with anything but if you are getting charged then you probably actually want ARPA.
JR is correct but I seem to recall some point collectors decided to test the extent of the law and wound up in federal court within a few years of passage of the act. Some got off, since they were indeed collecting arrowheads but some others had been collecting paleo points and were convicted.MH
Doug's Archaeology 
StarRider
November 9, 2013
No, it is not legal to collect on government lands, and in all states of which I’m aware this applies not only to federal lands, but lands belonging to or controlled by any government entity. Some of the more obtuse in the collecting community insist on the ARPA exclusion of penalties for surface collecting, however this segment is decreasing every day and I would guess most are aware of the true nature of the situation.
I have been a collector for 30 years; my collection is very large. I could not put a number on it. All are photographed and indexed by location found, gigabytes of photos, maps, notes. 99.9% of it was collected either in cultivated fields or stream beds, all with landowner permission. In the last few years almost all are creek finds. I have never sold an artifact in my life. I have written literally scores of articles for collector publications, my knowledge of my small collecting area is exhaustive. My finds are virtually all non-contextual and all legal, yet I constantly hear about how these cultural materials “belong to us all” and I am destroying history, by legally removing non-contextual isolates from gravel bars. Bullshit. I was at one time very willing to cooperate with any professional who contacted me. I still correspond with a very select few about what I’m finding, but as far as viewing artifacts in person or any locational data, no. I advise any collector who asks to not loan any artifacts for study, you might have to fight to get them back, or they might come up missing. It has been proved to me that there is a significant segment of professionals that cannot be trusted, as there is sentiment in this segment that would like to see any and all collecting of artifacts ended, no matter where or how they were recovered, by any means possible. I do not need anything from the professional archaeological community. I can help you, and would be willing to, but not while I am under attack.
Stratified sites on government lands should be protected. But when I hear the professionals trying to shut us out of the non-contextual stuff, then I know we’re no longer about protecting the record, but about purely anti-collector “priveleged access”. The archaeological community decries (rightly) collectors digging on undisturbed sites, as they are destroying the information the site contained. Yet when an artifact erodes into a stream bed, or a site deflates on a lakeshore, hasn’t this destroyed, in the same way, the same information that the site digger destroyed? You can’t have it both ways, and the contortions professionals will go to to try to justify both positions is laughable. Some of the more sensible archaeologists can see where this is all heading, and they are absolutely right…in many areas of the country there is no cooperation whatsoever between the two groups. If that’s what the professional community wants, then keep going on the path you’re on, you are getting your wish, state by state, and both groups (and more importantly, the chance for added data) will lose.
Charles
August 10, 2015
“Spend some time on an arrowhead collecting forum and you will eventually be told that it is legal to hunt arrowheads on Federal land in the US (as opposed to all other forms of collecting/looting that is illegal). ”
What a load.
Mention hunting artifacts on federal land and you’ll get shut down fast on the forums. We know better and share that with those who don’t. Those who don’t bother to listen or learn the laws get run off of the forums real quick too.
Doug Rocks-Macqueen
August 10, 2015
Maybe things have changed in the few years since I posted this. Maybe we don’t hang out in the same forums but I have been told by many a collector on forums about the Carter loophole. Just because it is not your experience does not mean it does not happen so I will beg to differ on your ‘what a load’ comment but am grateful you did spend the time to present an alternative viewpoint.
Charles
August 18, 2015
Doug my apologies and maybe I did misinterpret what your trying to say above. Yes, there are those that will state that you can hunt and pick up up on federal land but like I said on my comment above, those folks will be set straight in short order. I’m Justonemore on arrowheadology, been there a few years and I have yet to see anyone leave that site not being corrected. I just find that first sentence misleading as to what to expect from collectors and what they will share on the forums as to what is legal.
Doug Rocks-Macqueen
August 18, 2015
I will re-write it to make it less- as matter of fact and more – this is what I was told once as an intro. Misinterpretation falls as much on the writer as the reader. Cheers
Charles
August 18, 2015
Thank you, for all of us that try to do the right thing!
David
October 17, 2015
Who says that the arrow head was made by a native american. Is is possible to say that anyone could have been taught how to make one, and there is no way to prove any arrow head is strictly from the natives.
Doug Rocks-Macqueen
October 17, 2015
Yes… and that causes no ends of problems for collectors who must deal with replicas passed off as the real thing. Though in terms of the law it makes no difference if it was made by Native Americas or Europeans in the 1800s. Anything older than 50 years (and not still in use- mainly applies to buildings but all sorts of complications) is considered archaeology and thus protected on Federal Land. Who made the arrowhead means very little in terms of this blog post. Age is what matters.
Anna
September 3, 2016
I’m wondering about points found in beach littoral zones. Riparian laws state that the area between low and high tide is owned by all…I can see an argument for surface hunting on public beaches because of this. But let’s say you are walking a beach that is not owned by a state or federal entity…lots of people collect arrowheads this way. Are they doing so illegally?
Doug Rocks-Macqueen
September 3, 2016
You could have private beaches and if it is private than the laws don’t apply. Basically, the laws discussed in this post apply to Federal land. It most cases waterways are considered Federal land but without know the specifics of what you speak of I can’t really tell you more.
Robert Kill
October 21, 2018
How can you be charged with stealing government property? The government doesn’t own anything, we the people own the land, the government only manages it !!
cfeagans
February 21, 2020
You can be charged under 36 CFR 261.9, which provides authority for agencies to protect public property. Property is owned by agencies like BLM, the Forest Service, and National Parks on *behalf* of the public. These agencies are legally bound stewards and are legally bound to protect property of the people by the people. Even if it’s to protect it from those few members of the public that wish to do harm to that property.
jakester48
October 22, 2018
So, Robert, I can steal an F-35 or a nuclear submarine without being guilty of anything?
Charlie Webster
July 2, 2021
Is it illegal to hunt for arrowheads in a creek as long as there in the water? Is it true that you can not legally own a creek or river that runs through your own property? I’m not saying someone saying they own it just because they don’t want you in it but legally wise.
Doug Rocks-Macqueen
July 2, 2021
I think it will depend on state. I know that in some states waterways come under state control. You would have to look at your specific state laws. Also, there will be certain federal control on some bodies of what.