Tennessee Code Title 11. Natural Areas and Recreation § 11-6-107

(a) All state agencies, departments, institutions and commissions, as well as all counties and municipalities, shall cooperate fully with the division of archaeology.

(b) Where any sites or artifacts may be found or discovered on property owned or controlled by the state or by any county or municipality, the agency, bureau, commission, governmental subdivision, or county or municipality having control over or owning such property and which is preparing to initiate construction or other earth-moving activities upon such property, or is currently performing work of this type upon such property, the public body having custody of the land shall comply with subsection (d) and is directed to urge supervisors of such works to notify the division of the discovery and location of such sites or artifacts immediately, and to cooperate to the fullest extent practicable with the division, either to prevent the destruction of such sites and artifacts or to allow the division to obtain maximum information and artifacts before these locations are disturbed or destroyed.

(c) It is the responsibility of the state agencies to have this chapter made known to contractors who are to perform work upon any such public lands, and contractors shall be required to comply with this chapter.

(e) All archaeological site clearance work carried out pursuant to this section shall, in as far as practicable, be scheduled so as not to interfere with construction activities, and such clearance work shall only be conducted at sites which have the potential to yield information significant to the scientific study of Tennessee's aboriginal and historic past.