[4] It also has links with the Centro de Arqueologia Biomas da Amazônia, in the municipality of Iranduba, in conjunction with the State University of Amazonas.

[8][9] Housed in the Ipiranga Palace, the Paulista Museum has shown interest in archaeological and ethnographic research since its inauguration in 1895, as evidenced by the first volume of the Revista do Museu Paulista, of the same year, which features an article signed by Hermann von Ihering, the museum's first director, entitled "A civilização pré-histórica do Brasil meridional" (in English "The prehistoric civilization of southern Brazil"), discussing ethnographic aspects of the indigenous populations of southern Brazil.

These expeditions, in which the researcher Harald Schultz and the Indianist Curt Nimuendaju, among many others, participated, headed to various parts of the Brazilian territory, returning with large batches of objects, including ceramics, textiles, pieces of featherwork, and archaeological artifacts in general.

[8] Beginning in 1968, with the appointment of an archaeologist, the museum began to conduct systematic research at archaeological sites, by the modern scientific conceptions of the time.

[10] Among others, the Paranapanema Project, coordinated by Luciana Pallestrini, aimed at surveying and analyzing archeological sites along the Paranapanema River in São Paulo,[13] and the Anhanguera Project, under the direction of Margarida Andreatta, which carried out prospects and excavations in the state of Goiás, in cooperation with the Federal University of Goiás,[14] and the Piauí Project, coordinated by Niède Guidon, responsible for a series of research in the Piauí municipality of São Raimundo Nonato,[15] of which archaeological findings would culminate in the creation of the Serra da Capivara National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1991.

This is the case of the highly relevant collection of Tapajonic archeological ceramics, acquired in 1971 with funds provided by the São Paulo Research Foundation.

[3][17] From the 1970s on, in line with the greater development of ethnology in Brazil, the collection of the Ethnography Museum registered an expressive growth, reaching 4,000 pieces at the time of its incorporation into the MAE.

Due to this historical conjecture, most of the objects coming from the Ethnography Museum are composed of relatively recent materials collected by researchers from the Anthropology Department of USP and other institutions.

[18] Inspired by the Parisian institution of the same name,[19] and with the support of Paul Rivet, then director of the Musée de l'Homme,[20] the IPH was one of the main responsible for the development of Brazilian academic archeology, in addition to conducting numerous excavations and scientific research in various parts of the national territory.

[21] Among its most important achievements was the discovery, in a midden on Santo Amaro Island, of the oldest human remains so far known in South America, the "Man of Maratu", about eight thousand years old, measured by carbon-14.

[20] Professionals such as Joseph Emperaire and Annette Laming-Emperaire, responsible for forming a considerable portion of the first academic archaeologists in Brazil, worked at the institute.

[21] The Institute of Prehistory was established as one of the centers for the diffusion of the so-called "French school" of archeology, whose meticulous fieldwork methodology would clash shortly afterward with the generalist practice of the "North American school", adopted by the military regime, funded by the United States and put into practice by the National Program of Archeological Research (PRONAPA).

[18] His critical stance towards PRONAPA's scientific methodology, which he classified as superficial and dehumanized, and, above all, his outright opposition to the military regime and the equipping of the University of São Paulo by the repressive state apparatus led to his dismissal from USP shortly after the promulgation of AI-5.

[26] This is the case of the Egyptian collection belonging to Vera Bezzi Guida, disputed by the MAE and the British Museum, purchased by USP in 1976.

[3] The present Archeology and Ethnology Museum of the University of São Paulo was officially constituted on August 12, 1989, by means of resolution number 3560, issued during the rectorship of José Goldemberg.

The measure was taken after the presentation of a report prepared by a commission chaired by Professor José Jobson de Andrade Arruda, about the concept of scientific curatorship and its organizing function in a university museum.

The creation of the new MAE consisted, effectively, in the incorporation of the anthropological collections dispersed in integration organs and teaching units in a new scientific-cultural center.

[2][27] Thus, although relatively recent, the museum has already emerged as the holder of a broad heritage, consisting of more than 120,000 pieces, constituting one of the most important centers for the preservation of archeological and ethnographic memory in Brazil.

[32] Between 2001 and 2002, the MAE organized, for the first time outside São Paulo, an exclusive exhibition of pieces from its collection, hosted in Brasilia, at the Superior Court of Justice, entitled Brasil 50 mil anos.

[33] Since 1993, the MAE has been housed in a building of approximately 4,000 square meters, next to the City Hall of the Armando Salles de Oliveira University Campus, located in the West Zone of São Paulo's capital.

[31][34] In 2010, the project was resumed, based on a compensation agreement for the damage to an archaeological site in Itaim Bibi between the Public Prosecutor's Office, the USP, IPHAN, and the responsible developers.

The collection includes archaeological artifacts (ceramics, lithics and bone, human and animal) related to the civilizations of the Mediterranean, the Middle East, pre-Columbian America, and especially pre-colonial Brazil.

Although the specimens come from all over the national territory, it is possible to observe the concentration of certain typologies in certain regions, such as the zooliths, mostly from southern Brazil, and the polished axe blades, found mainly in the North and Midwest.

The collection of Marajoara ceramics includes funerary urns, anthropomorphic figurines, vases, bowls, plates, cups, rattles, thongs, among other objects.

The museum also holds a large collection of textiles, consisting of bags, slings, fragments and strips of cloth in general, using mainly cotton as material.

A highlight is the collection of 36 objects that belonged to Vera Bezzi Guida, acquired in 1976, composed mainly by shabtis, one in wood covered with black resin, probably from the tomb of the pharaoh Seti I, besides amulets, bronze statuettes of deities and a canopic jar with a lid in the shape of a human head.

The Egyptian collection of the Paulista Museum consists of approximately 50 objects such as amulets, ushabtis, faience, bronze statuettes representing animals and terracota.