Museum of Anthropology
100 Swallow Hall
Columbia, MO 65211-1440

Monday - Friday
9:00 am - 4:00 pm
and some Saturdays

Archaeological Collection

The Museum's massive archaeological collection results from federally mandated cultural resource management projects and myriad projects conducted by university faculty and students. The Museum has also long functioned as a repository for collections donated by members of the Missouri Archaeological Society, as well as for other personal archaeological collections. The majority of the Museum's archaeological holdings are managed by the American Archaeology Division's Curation office.

The archaeological collections are recognized nationally as being among the most important holdings of prehistoric material in the country. Containing millions of individual items, the archaeological holdings are systematic in scope and span the era of human occupation and the entire geographic reach of present-day Missouri (from ca. 8000 b.c. on). Major collections include those generated from excavations in Truman Reservoir in west-central Missouri and in Clarence Cannon Reservoir (Mark Twain Lake) in northeast Missouri. Collections from the seven Bootheel counties adjacent to the Mississippi River in southeast Missouri are also extensive. Materials in the Museum's collections include ceramics, lithics, metal, and faunal and botanical remains from a spectrum of functional site types, site sizes, and dates of occupation. Foremost among those are materials that postdate a.d. 700 and include remains from the Late Woodland and Mississippian periods. Information accompanying the archaeological collections includes an estimated 600 linear feet of documentary material (e.g., maps, charts, plans, excavation forms, reports, and photographs).

Notable items among the archaeological collections include the Jaguar Gorget (right top and middle), over 300 complete or restorable ceramic vessels, any number of well-made worked stone pieces (including the Lilbourn Mace), silver cones from contact-period sites, copper implements, and ceramic effigies of various kinds of animals.

In addition to the Missouri material, the Museum also holds small collections of archaeological material from other states and regions of the world, type and teaching collections, and the renowned Eichenberger collection of expert replicas of many of the world's most significant archaeological pieces.

Mississippian & Woodland Artifacts some of the Museum's holdings of pre-European-contact artifacts

Eichenberger Collection expert replicas of many of the world's most significant archaeological pieces

Roman Lamps ceramic Roman lamps donated by Miss Eva Bowser

Archaeological Curation maintains archaeological collections and collection-related documentation

Museum Collection Databases

Jaguar Gorget
Fairfield Mound
Benton County, Missouri
Woodland Period
MAC 2002-03-001

Below:
drawing of gorget's jaguar image

Bear Effigy Bowl
King Site
New Madrid County, Missouri
Mississippian Period
MAC1973-109