[2] The institute subsequently expanded its reach through the establishment of schools of archaeology around the Mediterranean and in the southwestern United States.

The journal presents original studies of the various peoples and material cultures of the Mediterranean and related regions, including North Africa (Egypt and Sudan), Western Asia (Caucasus), and Europe, from prehistory to late antiquity and beyond.

[5] The AJA encourages work that explores the cultures of the ancient Mediterranean along with other regions and periods and discusses the reasons for their continuing significance in the present.

The magazine engages and entertains readers through vivid stories, surprising narratives, and inspiring images, bringing people of the past into our lives in the present.

The Governing Board prepares and approves the organization's annual budget and oversees its investments and donations, also conducting fundraising activities.

[7] The AIA offers scholarships for young academic members and funds several students for excavation, research, publication, and site preservation.

Its numerous awards recognize archaeologists and individuals and communities who have made outstanding contributions to the field and heritage conservation.

[17] It is named after journalist and writer Felicia A. Holton, who co-wrote Koster: Americans in Search of Their Prehistoric Past with archaeologist Stuart Struever in 1979.