The ARC maintains archaeological and anthropological collections from a variety of sources, including from sponsored professional excavations and items gifted or donated to the university. Our focus as a repository is on North Texas and the surrounding region. In accordance with our mission and the diverse nature of our constituency, the ARC maintains four main categories of collections based on the way they were generated and their intended purpose.
We are currently working to compile a complete record of all collections in our custody, and a working draft of this database is available here.
1. Research Collections
Research collections are those that the ARC holds, either in trust or not, from research and/or compliance archaeological projects governed by the Texas Antiquities Code. These included Permitted collections and Non-permitted collections. The bulk of our permitted collections derive from SMU River Basin Surveys (RBS) and Archaeology Research Program (ARP) projects conducted between 1965 and 1993, and from the period between 1993 and 2003 when SMU accepted curatorial responsibilities for State and Federal collections.
Non-permitted collections are the result of faculty or graduate research outside of the State of Texas or from research projects that are not governed by the Texas Antiquities Code. These collections currently include materials from New Mexico, Louisiana, Guatemala, Ecuador, and the Middle East.
SMU River Basin Surveys and Archaeology Research Program
SMU Radiocarbon Laboratory
Dallas Archeological Society
2. Gifted/Donated Collections
Donated collections that are the result of a material gift transaction by a private landowner, individual, corporation, organization, or through a bequest to the ARC, Department of Anthropology, or Southern Methodist University.
Gifted Objects
Small collections of fewer than 100 archaeological artifacts or items of anthropological interest donated to the university are treated as individual items. Most of these items are under the control of the Department of Anthropology, but are in the possession of and curated by the ARC.
Bulk Archaeological Collections
Large collections of more than 100 artifacts, generally donated or gifted from avocational archaeologists. Most collections contain items with limited (i.e., state- or county-level provenience) and are of limited use for research.
3. Comparative Reference Collections
Comparative collections are collections of type specimens or exemplar specimens used for reference and identification. Our comparative reference collections consist of the following: