The West African Archaeology research collection is the latest addition to the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology. It is comprised of samples of cultural remains collected during archaeological research conducted  in Northern Cameroon, Northwestern Burkina Faso, and West Central Senegal. The Northern Cameroon collection includes series of items of personal adornment: carnelian beads used to adorn the bodies of the deceased, calcite lip-plugs, miniature copper bells, and ostrich eggshell beads. Series of zoomorphic and anthropomorphic terracotta figurines, more or less well preserved, are also part of the collection. An alloyed copper figurine of a horseman, dating from the 15-16th century AD, provides a glimpse on the elite documented in the Houlouf 15th century AD cemetery. The Burkina Faso collections were built up during the Mouhoun Bend Archaeological Project (MOBAP) from 1997 to 2000. They include bio-anthropological material under current investigation, a large number of restorable vessels, direct remains of iron production including samples of iron ore, blow-pipes (tuyeres), iron slag, as well as a diverse sample of iron artifacts. The material from Northwestern Burkina Faso ranges in date from ca. 500 BC to AD 1500. The Sénégal Collection focuses on the Senegambian Megaliths but is complemented by sherd samples collected from the shell-middens sites from the Saloum Delta, as well as the Tumulus zone in the Ferlo. The Sénégal collection includes a large portion of bio-anthropological material collected from the excavation of a number of megalithic features: from the double-circle at the center of the Sine-Ngayene site that dates from ca. AD 600 to 1500, the single circle in the northeastern periphery of Sine Ngayene, the Warrior Tumulus #01, and Tumulus #02, as well as from the stone-circle features of Ngayene II cemetery. The pottery from the excavated megalithic sites is an important component of the collection. In addition to the archaeological collections mentioned above, the Africa Archaeology Division includes a series of ethnographic pottery that can be used to study patterns of variation in material culture in selected areas of Sénégal: there are some specimens of Bassari pottery from Ethollo, Bedik pottery from Bandafassi, Fulani pottery purchased at Kedougou, and a larger sample of contemporary pottery from Ngayene.