The Cobb Institute of Archaeology is a research and service unit of the College of Arts & Sciences of Mississippi State University.

It was founded in 1971 to promote archaeological research and education at Mississippi State University related to the Middle Eastern origins of Western Civilization and to the Indians of the South, particularly in Mississippi.

The Institute's facilities house the Lois Dowdle Cobb Museum of Archaeology and its artifact collections. The Institute also manages a separate facility for the curation of research collections.

The Institute's staff hold formal cross-affiliations with the Departments of Philosophy and Religion and of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work through appointments in the instructional programs in Religion and Anthropology.

Staff archaeologists are involved in a full range of archaeological research, including basic cultural and historical investigations, field excavations, laboratory analysis and report preparation, as well as cultural resource management and public archaeology. The Institute works with businesses, municipalities, state, federal and international agencies to assist them in complying with antiquities regulations and with cultural resource and environmental laws.

Through affiliations with academic departments the Institute provides a wide range of opportunities for MSU undergraduate and graduate students to become engaged in archaeological research and study activities. The Institute also provides assistantships to students concentrating in archaeology in the Masters Program in Applied Anthropology of the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work.

The annual program of the Institute features public lectures, tours and workshops, and the staff is routinely engaged in on- and off-campus outreach activities.