06/15/2026
What should you do if you find an artifact? ⚱️
When you see an artifact, we ask that you simply leave it be and not take it with you. All you have to do is snap a picture and take note of where you found it, which is typically easiest if you use your phone to take GPS coordinates.
If you see an artifact and want help identifying it, we can help with that! Here at FPAN, we more than happy to help with artifact identification and to provide information on archaeological sites in our area. You can reach out to us either by phone or email, and you are more than welcome to bring us pictures of what you found at our museum, Destination Archaeology Resource Center, located at 207 E. Main St. in Pensacola.
It's important to not remove any artifacts, as this could erase crucial information about an archaeological site. It's not just the artifacts that are important, but exactly where we find them is also significant to archaeological research. We call this provenience, and archaeologists always document this during excavations. Additionally, if artifacts are dug up without any proper archaeological procedures or permits, that can be considered a crime under state and federal laws, as archaeological excavations require a permit for an accredited institution to do archaeology.
A good thing to consider when you find an artifact is "what would I do with this if I were to just take it?" Sometimes, these artifacts will be left at museums or at FPAN when collectors have no use for them anymore. Unfortunately, these artifacts do not carry any research value to them because we do not have any recorded information on their provenience or context.
Just because we ask you not to take artifacts doesn't mean that we don't want people to be involved with archaeology! If you love to visit archaeological sites and see cool artifacts, then you should sign up to become a Heritage Monitoring Scout! As a Scout, you would document the artifacts or other cultural material that you see and monitor the conditions of a site to see if there is anything threatening the site. This way, you can make a huge difference and help protect Florida's cultural heritage!
Sign up for the HMS program at our website! 👇️
https://buff.ly/MkRYX8n
