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The Kallam Collection consists of more than 700 stone tools collected in Tama County, Iowa from 1890 to 1895. Most of the material dates from the Archaic Period, 8,5000 to 800 BC. The collection is unique in offering archaeologists a broad range of stone tools from a relatively small geographical area. Through such an index collection archaeologists may trace the evolution of a culture through time, the ways different cultures adapt to the same environmental conditions, and how stone points are modified through resharpening and repairs to make other tools.

Little is known about James Loren Kallam. It is believed he was born in 1871. He enrolled at the University in 1893, graduating in March 1895 with a Ph. G. in Pharmacy.

The Kallam Collection shows the kinds of tools uncoverd by early settlers with horse-drawn plows. Modern tractors typically nick and gouge large points and axes. The Kallam material is pristine.