Exploring Archaeological Collections and Research Possibilities at the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture

Summary

The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture (MIAC) acts as the Repository for the State of New Mexico, curating archaeological materials from Federal, state, and tribal lands, and private donations. The Archaeological Research Collections (ARC) is the museum’s largest collection, with Paleoindian through historic material from New Mexico and the greater Southwest. The collection is housed at the Center for New Mexico Archaeology, a new state-of-the-art facility shared with the Office of Archaeological Studies that allows for outreach, training and workshops, as well as a spacious laboratory for visiting researchers.

The material is representative of a long period of collection by archaeologists, including sites excavated by Edgar Lee Hewett during the early 1900s, through Works Progress Administration projects, to modern excavations. ARC contains an estimated 8 million artifacts and samples, approximately 35,000 individually cataloged artifacts, and more than 250 linear feet of accompanying notes, maps, and photos. In addition to the archaeological collection, the H. P. Mera Room and the Archaeological Pottery Project offer comparative collections for ceramics, lithics, mineral specimens, and petrographic slides. MIAC is also home to the Laboratory of Anthropology Library, which contains 35,000 items focusing on the greater Southwest and the Sylvanus Griswold Morley Collection.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Museum Meet and Greet

Keywords

Spatial Coverage