Rabat Archaeological Museum

Rabat Archaeological Museum

Collections at the Rabat Archaeological Museum
Established	1932
Location	Rabat,  Morocco
Type	archaeological museum

Rabat Archaeological Museum (French: Musée archéologique de Rabat) is an archaeological museum in Rabat, Morocco. Opened in 1932, it contains the most extensive collection of archaeological artifacts found in Morocco. It contains prehistoric and pre-Islamic collections including an extensive collection of objects uncovered by archaeologists working in Volubilis, Banasa and Thamusida, and were first put on display in 1930-1932. This includes human remains from the middle Palaeolithic period (probably Neanderthals) to the Neolithic (4000 BC). A further find in 1957 saw the museum expand considerably, after which it became a National Museum and it has housed the National Museum collections since 1986. Pre-Roman and Roman civilisations are well represented in the museum with a number of notable Hellenistic-style bronzes such as the Dog of Volubilis, and the marble 'Ephebe Crowned With Ivy and Head of a Young Berber.

On the ground floor of the museum is an extensive collection of stone artifacts from prehistoric cultures. On display are a number of tools, arrows, axes, swords, items of pottery, altars and sarcophagi and polished stones and stelae carved with inscriptions. The floor also has a number of tomb fragments and rock carvings. It covers Acheulian culture from sites such as Sidi Abderrahmane and Daya el-Hamra, Pebble culture from sites such as Arboua, Douar Doum and Casablanca, as well as the Neanderthal-associated Mousterian industry and Aterian culture dating back to 4000 BC. The museum also contains the oldest human remains found in Morocco. The Neolithic culture of Morocco, based on agriculture and livestock and evolving technologies and rock art, has been found in the caves in the region of Tangier and Tetouan. A number of axes and swords have been uncovered which are on display. The ground floor of the museum also has space for temporary exhibitions and has a reconstruction of a mosaic found in Volubilis on the floor and a marble statue of Ptolemy, dating back to 25-40 AD. A map in the lobby also illustrates the various archaeological sites discovered in Morocco and those from which the museum is constructed.