Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, Anthropology museum at University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, United States.
The Maxwell Museum of Anthropology occupies a building on the University of New Mexico campus in Albuquerque, with five exhibit areas. The Ancestors gallery traces four million years of human evolution with life-size models of human ancestors, while People of the Southwest covers eleven thousand years through Mimbres, Ancestral Puebloan and Puebloan artifacts and a reconstruction of a Chaco Canyon excavation.
The museum was founded in 1932 and was Albuquerque's first public museum at that time. It received its current name in 1972 to honor donors Dorothy and Gilbert Maxwell.
The People of the Southwest exhibit covers eleven thousand years of the region's cultures, with artifacts from Mimbres, Ancestral Puebloan and Puebloan peoples. It also displays UNM field work in New Mexico, including a reconstruction of an excavation at Chaco Canyon. The Ortiz Center Gathering Space is named for the late UNM anthropology professor Alfonso Ortiz.
The museum is located in the Anthropology Building on campus and is relatively easy to find. Visitors should note that hours are limited, so it is best to check ahead or arrive early in the day.
A 46-foot totem pole from British Columbia stood in the museum courtyard after arriving in 1941; it was later restored and moved to the lobby of the adjacent Hibben Center of the Anthropology Department.
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