On A Hike In The U.S. Southwest, I Found A Beautiful Indian Obsidian Arrowhead. But Our Guide Told Me It Was Illegal To Take It Home. Why?

In an effort to protect prehistoric American Indian ruins and artefacts on Western federal lands, two laws were enacted.
The 1906 Antiquities Act allows for permits for legitimate archaeological excavations and harvesting of artefacts. At the same time, it established penalties for illegal activities by "pot hunters," or "thieves of time."
The act also allows historical landmarks and structures and objects of historical and scientific value to be declared national monuments.
The Archaeological Resource Protection Act of 1979 was enacted in response to the rapidly escalating price of Indian artefacts and artwork. A single Anasazi pot can now be sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars at Sotheby's Auction House.
The act makes it illegal to remove anything from prehistoric archaeological sites, specifically from Western federal Indian lands. It is also illegal to sell, purchase, or traffic in illegally removed items.
Alas, there is still a steady stream of pots on the market that were legally obtained on private land; but how is the auctioneer to know their status?
On a backpacking trip in Utah's Grand Gulch National Monument, I found 800-to-1,000-year-old Anasazi corncobs, pottery shards and stone walls unmolested and lying in the open after many conscientious hikers had examined them. But later, I slept in an Anasazi shelter cave in Canyonlands National Park, the floor of which was pockmarked with pits dug by criminals hoping to get rich quick with a pottery find.

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