Collections
The Museum displays archaeological and ethnographic objects from all parts of the world. The General Pitt Rivers's founding gift contained more than 26,000 objects, but there are now over half a million. The extensive photographic and sound archives contain early records of great importance. Today the Museum is an active teaching department of the University of Oxford. It continues to expand its collections through donations, bequests and special purchases, as well as through students in the course of their fieldwork. The collections lie at the heart of our research and partnerships.
Areas of the Collections
Ethnography and archaeology
Photographs, sound, film & archives
Conservation
The Balfour Library
Online collections
Collection highlights
Axe, Papua New Guinea
Axe head, USA
Caricature mask, Mexico
Gold torc, Scotland
Glass bead with face, Cyprus
Malangan, Papua New Guinea
Metate, Central America
Ox-scapula shovel, UK
Pottery lamp, Pakistan
Roman shoe, Egypt
Textile fragment depicting hummingbirds, Peru
USB stick, UK
Using the collections
Our services
Conservation
Contact us
For ethnography and archaeology collections enquiries: objects.colls@prm.ox.ac.uk
For photograph and manuscript collections enquiries: ms-photo.colls@prm.ox.ac.uk