Antiquities Act No. 10 of 1964, as amended by the Act No.22 of 1979.

This Act consisting of 30 articles aims at providing for the preservation and protection of sites and articles of archaeological, historical or natural interest and for related matters and it is the basic legislation for the management, protection, and preservation of movable and immovable tangible cultural heritage resources. The Act protects (i) all relics made, shaped, carved, inscribed, produced, or modified by humans before 1863; (ii) all monuments (buildings, structures, paintings, carvings, and earthworks) made by humans before 1886; (iii) all objects, such as wooden doors or door frames, carved before 1940.
The Minister responsible for antiquities is empowered to (i) declare any place or structure of historical interest to be a monument (art.3); (ii) declare protected status for any object, structure, or area of cultural value (art.3); (iii) acquire any monument or conservation area (art.6); (iv) declare any object or class of objects discovered or made in Tanzania and being of palaeontological, archaeological, historical or natural interest to be a protected object (art.9); (v) regulate the sale and exchange of monuments and conservation areas, as well as the conduct of excavations and conservation areas.The Director of Antiquities is responsible for (i) inspections, including the entry into any monument; (ii) fencing, repair, and otherwise protection or preserving any monument; (iii) searching and excavating for relics; (iv) licensing research on immovable heritage resources (while that of movable resources stored in the museum is licensed by both the Director of Antiquities and the Director General of the National Museum and House of Culture).
The Act also provides that (i) no person shall sell or exchange any relic discovered in Tanzania, or any protected object, except under and in accordance with a license issued by the Director (art.15); (ii) it is forbidden to perform activities which might disfigure or destroy cultural heritage resources and imposes sanctions and punishment for offenders in the form of fines, imprisonment or both (art.5); (iii) any person who discovers a relic or monument, or any object or site which may reasonably be supposed to be a relic or monument, shall forthwith report the same to an administrative officer, the Director, the Conservator or the Curator of the Museum.
Article 20 establishes the Advisory Council for Antiquities with the following main tasks (i) to assist the Government in the formulation and implementation of a national policy on antiquities; (ii) to advise the Government on the method of coordinating and monitoring research relating to museology or antiquities; (iii) to advise the Government on the techniques of preserving and restoring monuments, relics, protected objects and buildings situated in a conservation area; (iv) to assist the Government in the establishment of laboratories for research in techniques of preservation and restoration in a conservation area; (v) to advise the Government in the selection and training of local personnel in scientific and technical fields; (vi) to advise the Government on systems of recording, documentation, and reference for material collected; (vii) to promote the documentation and dissemination of information on any research or publication on matters relating to antiquities. Article 22 establishes the National Fund for Antiquities for research, and the preservation of antiquities, and for any purpose relating to the functions of the Council.