The Texas Antiquities Code of 1969: What It Actually Protects
Short on time? The essentials
- Enacted in 1969, precipitated by a late-1960s incident in which a sunken sixteenth-century Spanish treasure ship off Padre Island was salvaged without proper archeological controls, per the Texas Historical Commission.
- Statutory home: Texas Natural Resources Code, Title 9, Chapter 191, titled the Antiquities Code of Texas, per the statute.
- Rules of Practice and Procedure sit at Texas Administrative Code, Title 13, Chapter 26, per the Texas Historical Commission.
- Scope on state-owned land: sites, buildings, pre-twentieth-century shipwrecks, treasure imbedded in the earth, and their contents, including on tidelands, submerged land, and the beds of rivers and the sea, per Sec. 191.002 and Sec. 191.091.
- Also covers land owned by counties, cities, and other political subdivisions of the state, per Sec. 191.092.
- Private land is covered only when a site is formally designated a State Antiquities Landmark with the owner's written consent, recorded in county deed records, per Sec. 191.094.
- Archeological work on covered sites requires a permit issued by the Texas Historical Commission, per Sec. 191.054 and Sec. 191.131.
- Criminal penalty for a violation: a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than 50 dollars and not more than 1,000 dollars, up to 30 days in jail, or both, with each day of continued violation a separate offense, per Sec. 191.171.
On this page
- What the Antiquities Code actually is
- Why it was enacted in 1969
- The Texas Historical Commission's role
- What the Code protects, in plain language
- State-owned land, including submerged bottoms
- The private-land exception: consent-based landmarks
- The permit requirement for investigation
- The notice rule before breaking ground
- Penalties for unauthorized disturbance
- Who the law does and does not apply to
- What the Code does not replace: federal law
- What the record does not show
- Texas Antiquities Code FAQ
What the Antiquities Code actually is
The Antiquities Code of Texas is a state law that puts the state's archeological and historic resources on public land under the jurisdiction of the Texas Historical Commission. It sits today at Chapter 191 of the Texas Natural Resources Code, in Title 9, which is named Heritage. The short-title section is Sec. 191.001, per the statute.
The law does two big things. It declares certain categories of resource to be State Archeological Landmarks by operation of law when they sit on state-owned land. It then requires anyone who wants to disturb, salvage, excavate, or study those resources to get a permit or contract from the Texas Historical Commission first, per Sec. 191.093 and Sec. 191.131.
The accompanying Rules of Practice and Procedure are at Texas Administrative Code, Title 13, Chapter 26. Those rules describe the permit forms, the qualifications a principal investigator must meet, and the reporting standards that a permitted project must follow, per the Texas Historical Commission's own Antiquities Code overview page.
Why it was enacted in 1969
The Texas Historical Commission describes the origin in one sentence. The Code was enacted in 1969, and the law was precipitated by an incident in the late 1960s in which a sunken sixteenth-century Spanish treasure ship was plundered without regard for proper archeological controls, and significant historical information was lost.
That incident is the salvage of Espiritu Santo, one of three Spanish ships that sank off Padre Island in April 1554. In 1967, an Indiana firm called Platoro Ltd., Inc. began large-scale artifact recovery on the wreck without an authorization the state considered valid. The Texas General Land Office challenged the work in 1967, and litigation ran until 1984, per the Texas Historical Commission and the Handbook of Texas Online.
The Legislature responded within two years by passing the Antiquities Code, which for the first time gave a single state agency clear jurisdiction over archeological sites on Texas-owned land. The current statute was later recodified into the Natural Resources Code, effective September 1, 1977, per Sec. 191.001. The 1969 policy foundation has carried through every subsequent amendment.
The Texas Historical Commission's role
The statute uses the older name "the Committee" for the agency, but Sec. 191.003(1) defines the term to mean the Texas Historical Commission. The Commission is the legal custodian of items recovered and retained by the State of Texas under the Code, per Sec. 191.051(a).
Its core duties are listed in Sec. 191.051(b): maintain an inventory of recovered items, designate landmarks, contract for or permit discovery and scientific investigation, and protect and preserve the archeological and historical resources of Texas. The Commission also has rulemaking authority under Sec. 191.052.
One statutory arrangement is unusually specific. Sec. 191.058(d) names the Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History as the repository for marine artifacts held by the Commission. The museum does not own the artifacts, but is the designated place where the state's marine collections live.
What the Code protects, in plain language
Sec. 191.002 lays out the public policy in a single long sentence. Read carefully, it covers a wide list. The state's job is to locate, protect, and preserve certain resources across Texas.
The list covers sites, objects, buildings, and pre-twentieth-century shipwrecks. It covers prehistoric and historical American Indian and aboriginal campsites, dwellings, and habitation sites. It covers archeological sites of every character, treasure imbedded in the earth, and sunken or abandoned ships and wrecks of the sea. It also covers related maps, records, documents, artifacts, and implements of culture.
The geographic reach in that same section is equally broad. The list applies in, on, or under any of the land in the State of Texas, including the tidelands, the submerged land, and the bed of the sea within the state's jurisdiction. The upland-and-underwater breadth is what makes the Antiquities Code central to the Padre Island story.
| Category | What it means, per the statute | Statutory basis |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-twentieth-century shipwrecks | Sunken or abandoned pre-1900 ships and wrecks of the sea, plus any part or the contents of them, when located in, on, or under state-owned land, tidelands, submerged land, or the beds of rivers and the sea within Texas jurisdiction. | Sec. 191.002 and Sec. 191.091 |
| Treasure imbedded in state-owned land | All treasure imbedded in the earth located in, on, or under the surface of land belonging to the State of Texas, declared a State Archeological Landmark and eligible for designation. | Sec. 191.091 |
| Archeological sites on public land | Sites, objects, buildings, artifacts, implements, and locations of historical, archeological, scientific, or educational interest located on land belonging to the State of Texas, or to any county, city, or political subdivision. | Sec. 191.092 |
| Designated landmarks on private land | Any site on private land that the Commission has designated a State Archeological Landmark, but only with the landowner's written consent, recorded in county deed records. | Sec. 191.094 |
Source: Texas Natural Resources Code, Chapter 191 (Antiquities Code of Texas), sections as cited. Checked August 2026 against the statute text.
State-owned land, including submerged bottoms
Two categories are declared landmarks by the statute itself, without any further vote or designation, when they sit on state-owned land. Sec. 191.091 covers pre-twentieth-century sunken or abandoned ships, and treasure imbedded in the earth. Sec. 191.092 covers other archeological or historic sites on land owned by the state or a political subdivision.
The submerged-land coverage matters. Under the 1960 US Supreme Court ruling in United States v. Louisiana, Texas holds title to a wider band of Gulf bottom than most coastal states, out to roughly 10.35 miles offshore, per the Handbook of Texas. Everything on or under that state-owned seabed sits inside the Antiquities Code's automatic-landmark reach, per Sec. 191.091.
Sec. 191.093 then closes the loop. Landmarks under Sec. 191.091 or Sec. 191.092 are the sole property of the State of Texas and may not be removed, altered, damaged, destroyed, salvaged, or excavated without a contract or a permit from the Commission. That is the sentence that ended commercial salvage of Spanish shipwrecks in Texas waters.
The private-land exception: consent-based landmarks
Sec. 191.094 handles private land. A site on private land can be designated a State Archeological Landmark, but only in narrow conditions. A majority of the Commission must determine the site is of sufficient archeological, scientific, or historical significance. The landowner must also consent in writing in recordable form. The consent is then recorded in the deed records of the county in which the land sits.
Once designated, the private-land landmark is subject to the same permit requirement as public-land landmarks under Sec. 191.095. It must also be marked by at least one marker bearing the words "State Archeological Landmark" under Sec. 191.096. Designation can be removed by majority vote of the Commission under Sec. 191.097.
The plain-English takeaway: the Antiquities Code does not silently attach to a private ranch or a suburban lot. Private landowners retain control unless they choose to nominate, and any designation on their property has to be recorded on the deed. This is a common area of confusion for readers who assume the state can declare a private site protected without permission.
The permit requirement for investigation
Sec. 191.054 gives the Commission authority to issue a permit for survey and discovery, excavation, restoration, demolition, or study on landmarks, or for the discovery of eligible landmarks on public land. Sec. 191.131 makes the flip side a prohibition: no person, firm, or corporation may conduct a salvage or recovery operation without a contract, or an operation on any landmark without a permit.
The Texas Historical Commission adds one important operational detail. An archeological permit may be issued only to a professional archeologist who meets the definition of a principal investigator in the Rules of Practice and Procedure. Historic-building permits generally go to an architect who meets the qualifications listed in the Rules, or, in some cases, other qualified professionals.
Sec. 191.053(d) also settles the ownership question up front. Title to all objects recovered under a contract is retained by the State of Texas unless the Commission chooses to release it. That is why permitted marine excavations end with the artifacts flowing into the Corpus Christi museum rather than into a private collection.
The notice rule before breaking ground
Sec. 191.0525 adds a notice step that many Texas readers overlook. Before breaking ground at a project location on state or local public land, the person primarily responsible for the project, or the person's agent, must notify the Commission. The Commission then has 30 days to decide whether a historically significant site is likely to be present, and whether an archeological survey is needed.
For oil, gas, or other mineral exploration or pipeline projects, the notice window shrinks to 15 days, per Sec. 191.0525(c). If the Commission does not respond in the applicable window, the project may proceed without further notice. If it does determine a survey is needed, the project cannot start until the survey is complete.
County and municipal projects get an extra size threshold under Sec. 191.0525(d). Advance review is required only if the project affects a cumulative area larger than 5 acres, or disturbs more than 5,000 cubic yards, or sits inside a designated historic district or a recorded archeological site. Categorical exclusions like grazing, fence building, and controlled burns are listed in Sec. 191.0525(e).
Penalties for unauthorized disturbance
Criminal penalties are set out in Sec. 191.171. A person who violates any provision of the Code is guilty of a misdemeanor. On conviction, the fine is not less than 50 dollars and not more than 1,000 dollars. Jail time is capped at 30 days, and the court may impose both. Each day of continued violation is a separate offense under subsection (b).
Two prohibition sections carry those penalties. Sec. 191.132 forbids intentionally and knowingly defacing American Indian or aboriginal paintings, hieroglyphics, or other marks or carvings, and forbids a non-owner from wilfully injuring, disfiguring, removing, or destroying a historical structure, monument, marker, medallion, or artifact without lawful authority.
Sec. 191.133 extends that reach onto private land in a specific way. No person who is not the owner and does not have the owner's consent may enter enclosed private land and intentionally injure, remove, excavate, damage, or destroy any archeological site, artifact, burial, ruin, or other archeological remains. Civil relief is available too: the Attorney General or a Texas citizen may bring an injunctive action under Sec. 191.172 or Sec. 191.173.
Who the law does and does not apply to
The Antiquities Code applies with full force to state agencies, including institutions of higher education, and to political subdivisions such as cities, counties, school districts, and special districts, per Sec. 191.003. Anyone doing work on land those entities own or control has to plan around Sec. 191.0525 notice and Sec. 191.054 permitting.
It applies to private contractors, salvage firms, treasure hunters, and hobbyists the moment they cross onto state-owned upland, state-owned submerged bottom, or a formally designated State Antiquities Landmark on private land. The Padre Island wreck field is the textbook example, because it sits on state-owned Gulf bottom inside a designated district.
It does not automatically apply to a landowner detecting on the landowner's own unenclosed private property, provided no State Antiquities Landmark has been designated with recorded consent under Sec. 191.094, and no protected features listed in Sec. 191.132 or Sec. 191.133 are being defaced or removed by a non-owner. State-owned mineral rights, easements, and rights-of-way running through private land can still bring parts of a project under the Code.
What the Code does not replace: federal law
The Antiquities Code sits on top of, not in place of, several federal frameworks. On federal land in Texas, National Park Service general regulations at 36 CFR 2.1 restrict digging and removal of natural or archeological material at units such as Padre Island National Seashore and Big Bend National Park. The federal Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 adds further criminal penalties.
On US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management land in Texas, agency-specific policies apply on top of federal law. On state parks and wildlife management areas, current Texas Parks and Wildlife Department rules control any surface disturbance, hunting, and metal detecting. These policies change, and location-specific district rules can be tighter than the general policy.
None of that federal or agency layering weakens the Antiquities Code. It adds to it. A shipwreck sitting on state-owned submerged bottom inside a National Park unit is protected by both Chapter 191 and 36 CFR 2.1 at the same time, per the statute and the federal regulation.
What the record does not show
The Antiquities Code is well documented, but a few points do not come out of the statute or the Texas Historical Commission overview page and should not be inferred from them. The exact number of active State Antiquities Landmark designations, the annual permit throughput of the Commission, and any specific enforcement statistics are not published in the sources cited here.
Information that would defeat protection is deliberately kept out of the public record. Sec. 191.004 makes the location of any State Archeological Landmark, the location or nature of any permitted activity, and the details of any survey to locate landmarks not public information. Anyone researching a specific site through open records is going to hit that wall on purpose.
Finally, this page does not attempt to state whether a particular Texas location, wreck, ranch, or river bar is or is not covered. That is a fact question that depends on state ownership, submerged-bottom boundaries, and any recorded landmark designation. The authoritative source for any specific address is the current Texas Historical Commission staff and the Texas Historic Sites Atlas, not a general summary.
Texas Antiquities Code FAQ
When was the Antiquities Code of Texas enacted?
In 1969, per the Texas Historical Commission's own Antiquities Code overview page. It was recodified into the Natural Resources Code effective September 1, 1977, per Sec. 191.001. The 1969 policy foundation has carried through amendments in 1981, 1983, 1987, 1995, 1997, and 2009, per the statute.
Where does the Antiquities Code sit in Texas law?
The statute is at Texas Natural Resources Code, Title 9 (Heritage), Chapter 191, titled the Antiquities Code of Texas. The Rules of Practice and Procedure are at Texas Administrative Code, Title 13, Chapter 26. Both are cited on the Texas Historical Commission's overview page for the Code.
Does the Antiquities Code apply to private land in Texas?
Only in limited ways. A site on private land is subject to the Code only if the Texas Historical Commission has formally designated it a State Antiquities Landmark under Sec. 191.094, and only when the landowner has consented in writing in recordable form. That consent is recorded in the county deed records. Sec. 191.132 and Sec. 191.133 add narrower prohibitions on defacing marked features or entering enclosed private land without owner consent to remove archeological remains.
Does the Code cover submerged land off the Texas coast?
Yes. Sec. 191.002 and Sec. 191.091 expressly reach the tidelands, submerged land, and the beds of rivers and the sea within Texas jurisdiction. Under the 1960 US Supreme Court ruling in United States v. Louisiana, Texas holds submerged bottom out to roughly 10.35 miles offshore, per the Handbook of Texas. Pre-twentieth-century wrecks and their contents on that bottom are State Archeological Landmarks by operation of law.
What is a State Antiquities Landmark?
The statutory term is "state archeological landmark", defined in Sec. 191.003(2). The Texas Historical Commission uses the public brand "State Antiquities Landmark" or SAL. The Commission calls SAL designation the highest level of historical designation offered by the State of Texas. A designated property may not be removed, altered, damaged, salvaged, or excavated without a permit from the Commission.
Do I need a permit to do archeology on Texas public land?
Yes, if the work involves a State Archeological Landmark or is a salvage or recovery operation. Sec. 191.131 makes it a violation to conduct such work without a permit or contract. Permits are issued under Sec. 191.054. The Texas Historical Commission notes that archeological permits go only to professional archeologists who meet the principal-investigator definition in the Rules of Practice and Procedure.
What are the penalties for violating the Antiquities Code?
Sec. 191.171 makes any violation a misdemeanor. On conviction, the fine is not less than 50 dollars and not more than 1,000 dollars, jail time not more than 30 days, or both. Each day of continued violation is a separate offense. The Attorney General may sue for injunctive relief and return of items under Sec. 191.172, and a Texas citizen may sue on the same grounds under Sec. 191.173.
Can I detect for coins or artifacts on Padre Island?
No, in most locations. Padre Island National Seashore is federal land, and National Park Service general regulations at 36 CFR 2.1 restrict digging, disturbance, and removal of archeological or natural material. The offshore wreck field also sits on state-owned submerged bottom and is protected under the Antiquities Code. Beach areas outside the Seashore have their own municipal, county, and state-park rules that should be checked before any detecting.
Sources
- Texas Historical Commission. Antiquities Code of Texas, State Project Review overview. Source for the 1969 enactment date, the late-1960s sunken sixteenth-century Spanish treasure ship incident that precipitated the law, the statutory location at Texas Natural Resource Code Title 9 Chapter 191, the accompanying Rules at Texas Administrative Code Title 13 Chapter 26, and the principal-investigator requirement for archeological permits. thc.texas.gov/review/state-project-review/antiquities-code-texas. Checked August 2026.
- Texas Historical Commission. State Antiquities Landmarks, designation overview. Source for SAL as the highest level of historical designation offered by the State of Texas, the eligibility of cultural resources on non-federal public lands, and the National Register prerequisite for historic buildings before SAL designation. thc.texas.gov/preserve/designate-historic-properties/state-antiquities-landmarks. Checked August 2026.
- Texas Historical Commission. Antiquities Permits, permit overview. Source for the prohibition on removing, altering, damaging, salvaging, or excavating an SAL without a permit, and the notification-then-30-day-response procedure. thc.texas.gov/review/state-project-review/antiquities-permits. Checked August 2026.
- Texas Natural Resources Code, Chapter 191, Antiquities Code of Texas. Sections cited on this page include Sec. 191.001 title, Sec. 191.002 public policy, Sec. 191.003 definitions, Sec. 191.004 non-public records, Sec. 191.051 committee powers, Sec. 191.0525 notice before breaking ground, Sec. 191.053 contracts, Sec. 191.054 permits, Sec. 191.058 curation and marine repository designation, Sec. 191.091 shipwrecks and treasure, Sec. 191.092 other sites, Sec. 191.093 prerequisites, Sec. 191.094 private-land landmark designation, Sec. 191.095 permits on private land, Sec. 191.096 marking, Sec. 191.097 removing designation, Sec. 191.131 to Sec. 191.133 prohibitions, and Sec. 191.171 to Sec. 191.173 enforcement and civil actions. statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/NR/htm/NR.191.htm. Checked August 2026 against the archived statute text on the Internet Archive.
- Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association. Padre Island Spanish Shipwrecks of 1554, by J. Barto Arnold III and Melinda Arceneaux Wickman. Source for the Platoro Ltd. 1967 salvage of Espiritu Santo, the seventeen-year litigation that ended in 1984, and the Texas title to Gulf bottom out to roughly 10.35 miles offshore under the 1960 US Supreme Court ruling. tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/padre-island-spanish-shipwrecks-of-1554. Checked August 2026.
- National Park Service, Padre Island National Seashore. 1554: A Spanish Shipwreck, park history and culture page. Source for the ongoing federal protection of the Padre Island wreck field under National Park Service authority in addition to state coverage under the Antiquities Code. nps.gov/pais/learn/historyculture/1554-1.htm. Checked August 2026.
- Code of Federal Regulations, Title 36 Part 2, Section 2.1. National Park Service general regulations covering preservation of natural, cultural, and archeological resources on units of the National Park System, including Padre Island National Seashore in Texas. ecfr.gov/current/title-36/chapter-I/part-2/section-2.1. Checked August 2026.