This is a professional organization with membership limited to active professional archaeologists who normally work and live in Minnesota. Members must have a post-graduate degree with a specialization in archaeology or the equivalent as demonstrated by field experience and publications. Minnesota's oldest statewide archaeological organization, MAS was formed in the 1930s. For more than 50 years it has published the Minnesota Archaeologist, which, along with the Historical Society's journal, Minnesota History, has been the principal outlet for information about archaeology in the state.
Membership is open to both professional and avocational archaeologists.
The IMA was organized in 1982. This is a regional organization which does work in Minnesota as well as elsewhere.