During your visit to the Museum of Northern Arizona, connect with the stories, natural history, landscapes and Native peoples of the Colorado Plateau through the museum’s permanent galleries and temporary exhibits. The Museum of Northern Arizona also houses a gift shop and a bookstore where you can shop for items unique to Northern Arizona.
Museum of Northern Arizona Collection
The Museum of Northern Arizona boasts over 600,000 artifacts in its permanent collections of anthropology, biology, geology and fine art. Additionally the museum holds extensive federal and tribal research collections and library and archival collections. While most of the Museum of Northern Arizona’s collections are located in the Easton Collection Center, samplings of the collections can be found on view in the Museum of Northern Arizona.
Museum of Northern Arizona Permanent Galleries
Geology Gallery
Step into the Geology Gallery and learn about the many changes the Colorado Plateau has undergone through millions of years of geologic and volcanic activity. Discover Earth processes, rock layers, life-forms and environments beginning 4.5 billion years ago. Highlighted in the Geology Gallery is a life-size skeletal model of Dilophosaurus, a carnivorous dinosaur found in Northern Arizona.
Archaeology Gallery
Discover prehistoric cultures in the Archaeology Gallery as you delight in artifacts like Hopi weavings and kachina dolls. Of particular importance is a kiva mural fragment from an ancient Hopi village called Awatovi.
Ethnology Gallery
The Ethnology Gallery highlights the living cultures of the region including the Hopi, Navajo, Pai and Zuni People. Learn about the daily lives of tribes today, many of who balance traditional lifestyles with jobs and activities outside their reservations.
Navajo Textiles Gallery
In the Navajo Textiles Gallery you’ll discover historic and contemporary Navajo textiles. Rotating displays in the Navajo Textiles Gallery showcase items from a collection of over 900 weavings.
Babbit Tribes Gallery
The Babbit Tribes Gallery features Ancestral Puebloan Navajo, Hopi and Zuni pottery. In addition to the exhibits 151 prehistoric and contemporary ceramic vessels, the Babbit Tribes Gallery also displays jewelry from Southwestern tribes.
The Museum of Northern Arizona boasts two unique shopping experiences. In the Museum Shop you will find a wide variety of Native treasures including jewelry, pottery, weavings, kachina dolls, carvings, fetish carvings, fine art paintings and sculptures. The Bookstore is known for its large selection of works related to the Colorado Plateau’s natural sciences and cultures. Additionally, you will find rare books by Native American Indian authors. Also available to purchase in the Bookstore are videos, DVDs, CDs, exhibition art, T-shirts, hats and calendars.
Travel Tip
- Changing exhibits at the Museum of Northern Arizona support the museum’s theme.