Citizen Archeology in Florida

A proposed bill in Florida (House Bill 803) will change the cultural resource laws in the state. For the cost of a $100 permit, anyone will be able to retrieve artifacts, take them home to preserve and display, or sell to other collectors, as long as they report the location where they found it. This follows substantial discussion in Florida since the 1990s about so-called “citizen archaeology permits,” or the idea that a citizen can take an artifact from state property if they provide the location information to land managers. For more than a decade, Florida has had a permit program called the Isolated Finds Program, which is a bit like the system in Britain. Florida already boasts a state-wide public outreach program in the form of the Florida Public Archaeology Network. Needless to say anti-collecting archeologists are fighting the introduction of a permit which undercuts their privileges and takes archaeology out of their control. William Lees, executive director of the FPAN notes “the program described in HB803 represents a retreat from [archeology's] position of leadership and will threaten rather than strengthen protection of our public lands”.

Read more at: Kristina Killgrove, "Florida Archaeologists Condemn Proposed 'Citizen Archaeology' Permit" Forbes Jan 13, 2016