Archaeology Collection

Katie Cottreau-Robins

Archaeology Curator

The Archaeology Collection of the Nova Scotia Museum is significant in size and continues to grow each year as professional archaeologists, archaeology students, researchers and the general public add to the collection through research projects, cultural resource management projects and donations. Beyond the volume is the breath and range of artifacts that provide clues and insights to the daily lives of people living across the varied and plentiful Nova Scotia landscape. From pre-contact periods as far back as 10,000 - 13,000 years to recent historic times, cultural evidence of the daily lives of every historic cultural group in Nova Scotia can be found in the archaeology collection.

Artifacts representing the Mi’kmaw, Acadians, African-Nova Scotians, the English, the Scottish, the Irish, and the Anglo-American are all represented in the collection and continue to tell rich stories of the Nova Scotia and Maritime past. It is exciting to work with the collection and share it with all Nova Scotians and visitors to the province. The artifacts presented in the  Nova Scotia Museum’s Collections & Research Virtual Exhibit are just a sampling of items under the stewardship of the Nova Scotia Museum. The archaeology curators look forward to sharing more.

“Archaeology is the study of past peoples based on the objects they left behind and the ways they left their imprint on the world.”  

James Deetz