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Collections Division

Archaeology

Archaeology is the study of humans in the past through the materials they left behind. 

Want to learn more? 

The Museum has more than 5 million artifacts in the Robert E. Bell Collections area, including:

 

Spiro engraved shell

Engraved shell from the Spiro Mounds site
  • The largest collection of Oklahoma artifacts, spanning 11,000 years of history, housed in a state-of-the-art facility
  • The Cooper Bison Skull, the oldest painted object in North America (10-11,000 years old)
  • Collections from Spiro Mounds, from a prominent political-religious center in eastern Oklahoma (ca. A.D. 1000-1450)

 

Small but notable collections come from elsewhere on the Plains, the American Southwest, Mexico, Guatemala, Panama, Ecuador, and Japan.  The department also has extensive archives, a large lithic material type collection, and repository collections from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation.

The department is fully committed to compliance with the 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and all other national and international laws that impact archaeological and anthropological objects.

Pottery vessel

Pottery vessel from southeastern Oklahoma,

decorated with geometric and possibly zoomorphic designs.

Department Research

News on research and collection projects by staff and students.
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Research, Loan, and Repository Policies

Information on working with the collections and curating artifacts at the SNOMNH. 

calf creek point

Calf Creek spear point

 

Oklahoma Archaeology and Artifacts

Learn about the archaeological history of Oklahoma!

Stovall Museum 1950

Stovall Museum in 1950

History of the Collection

Historical sketch of the the archaeology collections at the SNOMNH, from 1899 to the present. 

 
collage

"The Art of Prehistoric Caddo Potters"

A Virtual Exhibit.
cover of geoarch publication

Archaeology Publications

List of available department publications and information on how to order.

 

Visit the archaeology blog:

archaeology@snomnh

small pottery spiral

Archaeology Staff

Marc Levine

Dr. Marc Levine, Curator

Elsbeth Dowd photo

Dr. Elsbeth Dowd,

Collection Manager

Emily Turriff

Emily Turriff,

Collection Assistant

Sonya Beach

Sonya Beach, Graduate Student Assistant

Curator Emeritus

Don Wyckoff

Dr. Don G. Wyckoff

The department works closely with:

OU Anthropology Department

Oklahoma Archeological Survey

Oklahoma Anthropological Society

Sites of interest:

Caddo Conference Organization

Plains Anthropological Society

Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center

Texas Beyond History, Tejas: Life and Times of the Caddo

Society for American Archaeology

Archaeological Institute of America

become a member

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