Archaeology/Ethnology Collection May 10, 2009

This collection encompasses over two million prehistoric and historic specimens from nearly 100 years of excavation and over 2,000 ethnographic objects. Archaeology specimens are recognized as the definitive systematic research collection for the study of New Jersey prehistory and one of the most important collections for regional study of northeastern North America. Developed overwhelmingly through professional excavations by Museum staff and archaeologists from universities and consulting agencies, the collections provide data on the entire span of human occupation of New Jersey from prehistoric to historic 19th century. The Museum's archaeology collection is the preferred repository for collections excavated within New Jersey by state and federal projects. The ethnographic collection consists of items brought back to New Jersey by residents who traveled as diplomats, military officers, missionaries and enthusiastic tourists in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Most specimens represent the Delaware and other North American Indian groups. The collection is particularly rich in examples of Native American textiles, bead and hide work. It includes a small number of West African specimens, collected to interpret the New Jersey African-American past, and a small selection of Asian objects collected by New Jersey donors on business or pleasure trips during the late 1800s through the 1950s.