South Carolina Code 54-7-700. Excavation or disturbance of submerged archaeological historic and submerged paleontological property; exclusive license
(1) issuance of the license is in the best interests of the State; and
Terms Used In South Carolina Code 54-7-700
- Data: means any information related to the site of submerged archaeological historic property or submerged paleontological property which includes, without limitation, artifactual and/or paleontological material, remote sensing survey charts, magnetic tape records of positions, site maps, feature plans, photographs, measurements, and historical documentation. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
- Data recovery: means a systematic study carried out in accordance with a research plan which may include data collection, excavation, and artifact or fossil recovery. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
- Excavation: means the process of moving, removing, or disturbing bottom sediments to expose submerged archaeological historic property or submerged paleontological materials. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
- Historic property: means a district, site, building, structure, or object significant in the prehistory, history, upland and underwater archaeology, architecture, engineering, and culture of the State, including artifacts, records, and remains related to the district, site, building, structure, or object. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
- Institute: means the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
- Intensive survey: means a field and archival investigation of an area designed to gather and identify fully information about submerged archaeological historic properties sufficient to evaluate them in relation to National Register criteria of significance within specific historical contexts. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
- Licensee: means any person or entity authorized to perform certain recovery operations from a submerged archaeological historic property or submerged paleontological property under the provisions of this article by the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
- Paleontological property: means paleontological material or any site which contains paleontological material. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
- Person: means an individual, partnership, corporation, association, organized group of persons, or any other legal entity. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
- Preservation: means the identification, evaluation, recordation, documentation, curation, acquisition, protection, management, rehabilitation, restoration, stabilization, maintenance, and reconstruction of a submerged archaeological historic property or a submerged paleontological property. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
- Primary scientific value: means any submerged archaeological historic property or submerged paleontological property which:
(a) yields or may yield information of great importance or significance to state, regional, national or international history or prehistory. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620 - State: means the State of South Carolina. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
- Submerged: means beneath or substantially beneath the territorial waters of the State or submerged at mean low tide. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
- Submerged archaeological historic property: means any site, vessel, structure, object, or remains which:
(a) yields or is likely to yield information of significance to scientific study of human prehistory, history, or culture; and
(b)(i) is embedded in or on submerged lands and has remained unclaimed for fifty years or longer; or
(ii) is included in, or has been determined, or may be eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620 - Submerged lands: means lands beneath or substantially beneath the territorial waters of the State or which are submerged at mean low tide. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
- Submerged paleontological property: means any object or assemblage of objects found in a paleontological context which yield or are likely to yield information of significance to the scientific study or educational potential of the past faunal diversity, past environments, geologic time, or other paleontological concerns. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
- Undertaking: means an activity by the institute or South Carolina Museum Commission that would otherwise require a license under this article. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
(2) the applicant has completed an application which includes a research plan that meets standards established by the institute regarding professional qualifications, techniques, and methodology for recovery and dissemination of data and proper conservation of information and materials.
(B) The institute may not issue an exclusive license to a person or entity seeking title to a submerged archaeological historic property or submerged paleontological property or a portion of such property, or to a person or entity seeking to utilize a submerged archaeological historic property or submerged paleontological property for commercial salvage or other income-producing purposes, unless:
(1) issuance of a license is consistent with the purposes of subsection (A)(2) of this section;
(2) the applicant has provided the institute with some form of assurance acceptable to the institute that the project will be carried out and completed in accordance with the research plan approved by the institute; and
(3) the institute finds one or more of the following conditions met:
(a) the property to be excavated or disturbed is, in the opinion of the institute, threatened with imminent destruction or substantial damage by natural factors or by human factors unrelated to the commercial excavation or disturbance of the submerged archaeological historic property or submerged paleontological property in question;
(b) the submerged archaeological historic property or submerged paleontological property is not, in the opinion of the institute, of primary scientific value, of major archaeological, anthropological, historical, recreational, or other public value;
(c) the proposed disturbance will be minor in scale and will produce information relevant to the goals of the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology or the South Carolina Museum Commission regarding the management and preservation of submerged archaeological historic property and submerged paleontological property; or
(d) that the subject property of the license will not be excavated by any other person in the foreseeable future and that property will remain submerged until that time.
(C) The institute may apply the requirements of subsection (B) of this section to all noncommercial applicants.
(D)(1) The institute may require a licensee to assist in defraying the cost of the institute’s and/or museum’s review, administration, and supervision of the license.
(2) The application fee for an intensive survey license is fifty dollars for residents and one hundred dollars for nonresidents. The application fee for a data recovery license is five hundred dollars for residents and one thousand dollars for nonresidents.
(3) The institute reserves the right to waive the license application fee, in whole or in part, if the institute considers it appropriate in order to adjust the reasonableness of the fee as a proportion of the potential value and risk in undertaking the licensed project to the anticipated costs of the institute to review, supervise, and administer the license.
(4) The license application fee must be refunded if the institute rejects a license application.