The Cobb Institute of Archaeology was founded in 1971 and is a research and service unit of the College of Arts & Sciences of Mississippi State University.
The Institute's facilities include the Lois Dowdle Cobb Museum of Archaeology and its artifact collections, as well as multiple laboratories, classrooms, office space, and a library. The Institute also manages a separate facility for the curation of research collections and materials recovered from cultural resource management surveys, on Buckner Lane.
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 other academic departments at MSU (as well as with partner institutions and agencies), the Institute provides a wide range of opportunities for MSU undergraduate and graduate students to become engaged in archaeological research. This includes summer field schools, volunteer opportunities in the field, in laboratories, and in the museum, internships, and paid work-study positions. The Institute sponsors public lectures, tours and workshops, and the staff is routinely engaged in on- and off-campus outreach activities.