So you say that our government is actually of the people, for the people? In such an instance, what would you do if the government abandoned something? Stripped the pieces they wanted and left the rest? What if you were a collector and you were interested in restoring the item? What if you went through the process of registering your find with the government, dug the item out of a swamp, transported it halfway across the country and even did some work on it? I certainly have my opinion on who has the rights to the item.
That government for the people? They have a different view. “Oops, sorry – we want that back, and you need to pay the costs to make that happen.”? This is for the people?