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In the US you do actually own the things in your ground (unless you gave away mineral rights, a thing that is kinda common in mining areas). (NPR did a thing on
by ryanianian 8y ago
In the US you do actually own the things in your ground (unless you gave away mineral rights, a thing that is kinda common in mining areas). (NPR did a thing on this a while ago about a farmer who ended up owning a huge T-Rex fossil.)
- AlotOfReading 8y agoYou own them as long as they don't fall under NAGPRA and there are no human remains. Even then, most states have laws restricting what you're able to do with a site.
- close04 8y agoIn many European countries finding a pot of gold buried in your back yard means you have to hand it over to the authorities and maybe get a "finder's fee". You're not allowed to keep or sell such historical artifacts regardless of their monetary value. I don't know what happens when human remains are involved. Common sense tells me that they would never become the "property" of the land owner. And of course there is a chance that some artifacts are treated differently than others. A T-Rex fossil is 100% naturally occurring while minted coins or a sarcophagus are not. They may have even been at some point property of the state and as such could be treated as national patrimony.
- germinalphrase 8y agoI have been told that this is also true in my home state- Minnesota. Land owners do not automatically retain mineral rights when they purchase property.