07 NCAC 04R .1602         ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS ON STATE LANDS

(a)  Any person conducting archeological investigations on State lands or Abandoned shipwrecks shall obtain a permit. Upon consultation with the Department of Administration and subject to the criteria and discretion set forth in this Section, Article 2 of G.S. 70 and Article 3 of G.S. 121, the State Archaeologist, as designee of the Secretary of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, may grant permits to any person wishing to conduct terrestrial or underwater archaeological investigations on State lands, the exploration, recovery, or salvage of abandoned shipwrecks, and of underwater archaeological artifacts of state-owned bottoms in navigable waters.

(b)  No archaeological investigation, exploration, recovery, or salvage operations shall be conducted on State lands or Abandoned shipwrecks without a permit from the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

(c)  After issuance, no permit or any part thereof shall be assigned or sublet.

(d)  Permits shall be either General or Specific, as follows:

(1)           General Permits shall be issued to those land controlling agencies that employ Principal Investigator Archaeologists on a full time permanent basis to conduct archaeological investigations on State lands or Abandoned shipwrecks under the agency's control in accordance with the rules in this Section; and

(2)           Specific Permits shall be issued to Principal Investigator Archaeologists and shall include all permits other than General Permits.

(e)  No permit shall be required for employees of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources to conduct investigations being conducted as part of the Department's responsibilities.

History Note:        Authority G.S. 70-13; 70-14; 121-23; 121-25; 143B-10; 143B-62(1)(h);

Eff. June 1, 2017.