The museum is also home to the cultural heritage landmarks commission of the city of Hamburg and the adjacent district of Harburg in Lower-Saxony and thus supervises all archaeological undertakings in the region.

In addition, the Museum maintains as external branches the exhibition area of the 12th-century Bischofsturm (Bishop's Tower) in Hamburg's old town, the Fischbeker Heide archaeological trail at Neugraben-Fischbek and the 8th-century hillfort of Hollenstedt.

In more than 160 glass display cases, models and large exhibit items represent all aspects of human cultural development over the last 40,000 years.

In addition, installations on cultural heritage landmarks, the archaeology of Hamburg, and methods of collection and preservation provide information about the work of the museum and archaeologists.

Some of the notable exhibits are the Duvensee paddle (one of the oldest surviving paddles), the Metzendorf-Woxdorf head burial, the Bronze Age Daensen folding chair, the Ovelgönne Bread Roll, the Saxon Wulfsen horse burial, the Tangendorf disc brooch, a section of the Wittmoor Bog Trackway and the Maschen disc brooch.

In 1955, the Museum left the villa, which had been damaged by a bomb in World War II, and moved to a new main building next to the Harburger Theater.