Any person who shall excavate, disturb, remove, destroy or sell any Indian relic or artifact, or any of the contents of any mound or burial ground, on or from any lands owned by the State, by any public agency or institution, by any county, or by any municipal corporation, except with the written approval of the director of the State Museum or the Secretary of Natural and Cultural Resources, shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 70-4