How long after someone is dead do you think 'grave-robbing' turns into 'archaeology'?

Answer 1

This is a complicated question and the answer varies quite a bit between different countries and cultures, and even within countries and cultures, and there is no single rule across archaeology. For the sake of brevity I'm going to assume you're asking about human remains, but know that the protection of graves often extends to grave goods as well. In the United States, human remains are protected by several laws, most notably the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and the Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA). Cemeteries and their contents are also protected, although the laws about that vary at the state level. Generally speaking though, it's illegal to disturb graves unless there is a very specific reason to do so, for example if they're threatened with inundation or important for scientific or historical reasons. Still, occasionally bodies are found in unexpected places, and in such cases once it's determined that the remains are not associated with a crime, they are usually reinterred along with any associated grave goods either where they were found or in a place deemed appropriate by any living relatives or local authorities.

If you really want a number, a standard often given by archaeologists in the United States is that 50 years is enough to make an object archaeology, and 150 years is enough if there's people involved. But know that once actual human remains get involved things get legally and ethically a lot more complicated.