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Collections Overview

The Stanford University Archaeology Collections (SUAC) is a museum-style anthropology collection of archaeological, ethnographic, artistic, and archival materials cared for by the Stanford Archaeology Center on behalf of Stanford University. The collection includes over 100,000 items possessing global scope and regional strengths and reflects the university's unique collecting history. Over half of the collection originates in North America, with important accessions in the archaeology and ethnography of the Bay Area and northern California, ethnography of British Columbia and Alaska, and archaeology of the Southwest, West Mexico, and Illinois. SUAC also curates ethnographic accessions from the Southwest, Plateau, Plains, and eastern North America. Other accessions come from Europe, Asia, and Africa, with additional important collections from the ancient Andes and modern Pacific. Many additional places, peoples, and periods are represented within our collections. These materials manifest a range of complex histories and present-day significances.