Lost City Museum

The Lost City Museum at 721 South Moapa Valley Boulevard in Overton, Nevada, preserves the archaeological legacy of one of the most significant Ancestral Puebloan settlements in the American Southwest. The museum stands on the edge of the Moapa Valley, where the Muddy River once supported a string of Ancestral Puebloan (also known as Anasazi) villages from approximately 300 AD to 1150 AD — a cluster of settlements collectively called Pueblo Grande de Nevada, or the Lost City. The sites were rediscovered in the early 20th century and excavated in the 1920s and 1930s, with the most urgent excavations occurring in the early 1930s when it became clear that the rising waters of the newly constructed Hoover Dam would flood much of the Moapa Valley and permanently submerge the original village sites. Today, Lake Mead covers the exact location where many of the original structures stood. The museum's collection of more than 700,000 artifacts includes pottery, woven baskets, tools, jewelry, and ornamental objects recovered during the pre-dam excavations and represents one of the most complete assemblages of Ancestral Puebloan material culture in Nevada. Display cases throughout the main gallery present these artifacts in their archaeological context, with interpretation explaining the daily life, trade networks, and eventual migration of these desert farmers. Outside the museum, full-scale adobe pueblo reconstructions have been built on the museum grounds, providing a three-dimensional sense of the architectural style and scale of the original village structures. The museum is managed by the Nevada Division of State Parks and admission is just $5 for adults — remarkable value for the quality and depth of the collection. The museum is closed Mondays.