§1610. Prohibited excavations

A. No person, not being the owner thereof, shall without the consent of the owner enter or attempt to enter upon the lands of another and intentionally injure, disfigure, remove, excavate, damage, take, dig into, or destroy any sites or artifacts addressed by R.S. 41:1604(1).

B.(1) 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 state lands unless such activity is approved by the agency with ownership responsibilities over the lands and is authorized under a permit issued pursuant to R.S. 41:1606.

(2) No person may sell, purchase, exchange, transport, or receive or offer to sell, purchase, or exchange any archaeological resource if such resource was excavated or removed from state lands in violation of Paragraph (1) of this Subsection.

(3) Any person who knowingly violates or counsels, procures, solicits, or employs any other person to violate any prohibition contained in Paragraph (1) or (2) of this Subsection shall, upon conviction, be fined not more than ten thousand dollars or imprisoned not more than one year, or both. However, if the commercial value of the archaeological resources involved and the cost of restoration and repair of such resources exceeds the sum of five hundred dollars, such person shall be fined not more than twenty thousand dollars or imprisoned not more than two years, or both. In the case of a second or subsequent violation, upon conviction, such person shall be fined not more than one hundred thousand dollars, or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

(4) All archaeological resources collected, transferred, or sold in violation of this Subsection shall be forfeited to the state.

(5) All vehicles and equipment of any person that were used in connection with the violation of this Subsection may be forfeited to the state.

(6) Nothing contained in this Subsection shall apply to any person with respect to any archaeological resource that was in the lawful possession of such person prior to June 26, 2001.

(7) For the purpose of this Subsection, "archaeological resource" shall mean any material remains of past human life or activities that are of archaeological interest which shall include but not be limited to pottery, basketry, bottles, weapon projectiles, tools, structures or portions of structures, human skeletal remains, Civil War artifacts, or any portion or piece of the foregoing items.

Acts 1989, No. 291, §1; Acts 2001, No. 938, §1, eff. June 26, 2001.