Arizona State Museum

Address 1013 E. University Boulevard, Tucson, AZ 85721
Phone (520) 621-6302
Opening Hours Mon-Sat 10am-5pm

The Arizona State Museum sits at the western entrance of the University of Arizona campus and is the oldest and largest anthropology museum in the Southwest, a Smithsonian affiliate founded in 1893. Its core strength is the archaeology of the Greater Southwest and northern Mexico — the Hohokam, the Mogollon, and the contemporary tribes that descended from them.

The permanent exhibit Paths of Life walks you through ten regional Native American communities, with strong sections on the Tohono O'odham, Apache, Yaqui and Navajo. The pottery vault, visible through glass, is worth seeing for its own sake. Free for under-eighteens; small fee for adults.

things to do museum
A story
The museum's pottery collection — the largest of any Southwest indigenous ceramics anywhere — is held in earthquake-rated drawers in a single climate-controlled vault. A side gallery, 'Pottery Project', lets visitors actually see into the vault through long sliding glass cabinets.