The history of the museum began with a small cabinet of rare artifacts, which in decades grew into the best archaeological museum of its time.
Museum of Archaeology, existing at Kharkiv National University named after V. N.D. Karazin, almost the same age as the university, is the owner of the oldest funds not only in the Kharkiv region. It leads its history from 1807, when the antiquities office was created at the university. In the same year, artifacts and other antiquities brought from Olbia and the Voronezh province came to him. Around the same time, Dr. Landbad donated an ethnographic collection collected by him during the first Russian round-the-world expedition in 1803—1806, led by I. F. Kruzenstern.

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In 1837, a museum of fine arts and antiquities was created at Kharkiv University, where collections of various offices were transferred, in particular the Antiquities Cabinet and the Munich Cabinet.

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During the preparation and holding of the XII Archaeological Congress in Kharkov (1902), large-scale studies were carried out on the territory of the region. Excavations were carried out at this time, as Kharkov residents (D. AND. Bagaliy, V. O. Babenko), as well as non-residents. The finds of these expeditions, as well as antiquities from private collections were presented at the exhibition of the XII Archaeological Congress. Most of these items went to the Museum of Fine Arts and Antiquities. This collection and artifacts from the excavations of archaeologists of Kharkiv University the following year served as the basis of the Archaeological Museum created by the University in 1919.

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In 1920, due to the liquidation of Kharkiv University, the Archaeological Museum received the status of a city.
In 1933, with the restoration of Kharkiv University, the Archaeological Museum became part of the Faculty of History. As a result of systematic archaeological investigations and excavations by Kharkiv researchers in the 20s-30s, the collection of the Archaeological Museum has increased to almost 200,000 exhibits. The museum also houses a numismatic collection of almost 40,000 coins and medals.

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The museum has formed one of the largest collections in the state and abroad of objects of the Bronze Age, the Scythian era, the ancient times, the Chernyakhov and the Saltian cultures.
In 1998, the museum received the name — Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography of Slobid Ukraine of Kharkiv National University named after V. N.D. Karazin.

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Exhibits:

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The very first exhibit in the museum was the Olvian stele, which was donated by the university's trustee Count Potocki. The stele was found in the ancient Greek city of Olvia, which was then a Greek colony on the Black Sea coast. On it, in ancient Greek, was written a thank you to the god Apollo for a good harvest.

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The new exhibition hall exhibits tools, horse harness, household items, artisan tools, jewelry, cult products made of stone, bone, flint, bronze, copper, iron, clay, glass, white metal, amber and other materials — the results of excavations of ancient settlements and burials. They reflect the standard of living of the people of that time, the development of the economy, military affairs, art, illustrate their perception of the world.
Among the most interesting things you can see here: bone psalm, cores for a metal machine, fibules (cloak clasps), glass cups and coins, Roman tableware, foundry molds for decoration, oinahoya (painted jug), oriental mirror, Cossack cradles, upside-down bow tie with the image of a hare, a vessel with people drawn on it with spears. But among all this stands out the object of an unusual sacrifice — the remains of a dog with a necklace made of faience beads around its neck, from the time of the Scythians of the XIX century BC. Such beads made of earthenware were made at that time only in Egypt. Most likely, the Scythians passed from Egypt to the Crimea, to one of the Greek colonies, and from the Crimea to the Poltava region - where the dog was found. The dog of the Scythians was considered a sacrificial animal and accompanied the owner to the afterlife. It is established that this dog died his own death.
There are also skeletons dating back to 3,000 BC, the Bronze Age, which were found with weapons and food in the vessel with which they were buried together.
Among the artifacts there is a glass antique decoration, which was found during the excavations of Khersones of Tavria in the Crimea. Gothic glass, which is represented in the burial, with painted glass cups.

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Wall panels and art paintings, spectacularly illuminated showcases with interesting exhibits and floor-mounted finds and modern equipment are all just a small part of this institution, which can rightly be called a masterpiece of modern museum art. There are about 200 thousand storage units in the vaults - archaeologists cannot name their exact number at the moment, and there is also a “gold pantry” in which products made of precious metals and precious stones are stored.

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At the beginning of the 1920s, the collections of the Museum of Kharkiv University were distinguished by a remarkable number of rare or unique things worthy of decorating any museum. Traditionally, ancient items recovered from excavations in Italy or Greece and in the Northern Black Sea were considered authoritative. It is not surprising that in the documents of the People's Commissariat (then the Ministry of Artistic and Historical Property) the collections of Kharkiv University were labeled “the highest level of rarity”, “extremely rare”, “very rare”, etc. At the same time, not only traditional gold and silver coins or products, but also the ancient cameo “Ajax and Cassandra” on izumrud, the cameo on sapphire “Oedipus and the Sphinx”, dated the first half of the 18th century, Byzantine, Western European were included in the list of rare and ancient Russian enamels, a separate collection of enamels from the French city of Limoges, knightly armor of the Middle Ages. The university museum also kept mummies and sarcophagi of Ancient Egypt, which even the Museum of Bohdan and Barbara Khanenko in Kiev, the best art museum of that period in the country, did not have.
Among the ancient finds were items from excavations in Khersonesz Tavriysk and in the estates of its suburbs (the so-called choir), from excavations in Olbia.

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All these are the results of expeditions of Karazin archaeologists (scientists and students) over the past two hundred years. Among them are completely new discoveries. Thus, during excavations in the summer of 2017 in Poltava region, about 30 items of gold of the Scythian era and a unique amphora, which is more than 2 thousand years old, were found.

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The hardships of the civil war were reflected in the attempt to evacuate the most artistic and valuable exhibits from Kharkov. The packed things were taken away by the train, which was robbed, among the looted property there were packages with exhibits of the museum of Kharkov University. Only a fraction of those items were found in the Gulyay-Pole, the residence of Makhno. The museum itself in Kharkiv was also looted, and its exhibits were sold in the markets and found in private collections of the bad times.
A new stage of looting occurred during the years of the capture of Kharkov by the German fascists. And this is about 200,000 units of conservation. Among the stolen - and a numismatic collection of almost 40,000 coins and medals.
After the end of the war in 1941-1945, the museum of Kharkiv University was forcibly reorganized. The main channel of new income will be finds from archaeological excavations of the postwar period.

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The territory of Kharkiv region is considered the center of eastern Ukrainian lands, the ancient history of which originates in the distant past. We invite visitors to plunge into this world of antiquity. During the Bronze Age, tribes of pit, catacomb and log culture lived on our lands — in the museum they are presented with a number of interesting exhibits. 
The Iron Age was marked in our territories by the arrival of the Scythians and Sarmatians, who were engaged in animal husbandry, agriculture and crafts. Among the museum exhibits, rare artifacts were found during the study of a unique archaeological site — the Bielsk settlement of the Scythian period and its necropolises. In the museum you can get acquainted with the results of many years of research of the ancient Greek cities of the Northern Black Sea. 
Mysterious artifacts will open to you the world of Germanic tribes. During your visit to the museum you will see jewelry, objects of worship, everyday life and even ancient skates, you will learn about the clothes of the ancient population, the weapons of warriors and horse equipment of different eras. Among the unique collections are the finds of the Salt culture, which is the pearl of Kharkiv region. 
During the early Middle Ages, part of the Kharkiv region was part of the Khazar Kaganate. You will get acquainted with the life of the ancient Slavs, the ancient city of Donets, mentioned in the Ipatiev chronicle, was an important outpost of Kievan Rus in the fight against nomads. Especially interesting are the collections of Cossack times, revealing the secrets of the heroic pages of the history of the Ukrainian people.

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The doors of the museum are open to everyone. Here you can look at the permanent exhibition and temporary expositions, timed to certain historical dates, events, archaeological expeditions, watch interesting scientific films, get expert advice. So come and find out how our ancestors lived!