Documenting and Rehousing the 1973-1977 Silvernale Site Archaeological Collection

The Science Museum of Minnesota was granted funding to conduct an inventory of their collection from the archaeological digs at the Silvernale Village sit between 1973 and 1977. The Silvernale site stands out as one of the most significant pre-contact Native American sites in the state. Consisting of a large village and some 500 burial mounds, the site was an important gathering place for many Native American groups throughout the Great Plains area between the 11th and 14th centuries CE.

The Science Museum acquired the Silvernale collection in 2001. It had never been properly inventoried, nor had all of the artifacts been washed after they were unearthed. This project remedied this, as well as providing up-to-standard storage for the collection.

This portion of the materials excavated from the Silvernale site is especially significant because the area that it comes from has since been built over--these are the only extant artifacts from the northern part of the village. Their proper preservation will allow these artifacts to continue to be used for research, as well as for educational purposes.