Throughout the United States, private collectors for the past couple of centuries have been collecting “arrowheads” (many of these stone artifacts are not in fact arrowheads) and using them to make visually interesting displays. Such displays were part of Cabinets of Curiosities. In an article in The Indian Historian, Joan Lester writes:
“They were chance assemblages of objects arranged according to the whim of the owner.”
Such displays, while being aesthetic interesting, provide almost no real insight into the lives of ancient American Indians. When removed from their original context, artifacts such as these lose their scientific, archaeological, and historic value. The East Benton County Museum in Kennewick, Washington, has a large display of Indian “arrowheads.”
The Museum is shown above. 
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