The origins of interest in the earliest history of the area now comprising the Lubuskie Voivodeship are lost in the mists of time. The first documented ‘excavation’ was carried out on 14 May 1577 by Emperor Rudolf II himself. He wished to verify first-hand the rumour that a field in the village of Gryżyce (Żagań County) ‘spontaneously produced pots’. Such explorations only took on a scientific character at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. It is worth mentioning the prehistorians Dr Hugo Jentsch and Otto Dobrindt, who rendered great service to research in the Gubin and Babimost areas. During this period, significant collections of archaeological artefacts were also established in the regional museums (Heimatmuseum) in Zielona Góra, Gubin and Nowa Sól.

After the Second World War, the foundations of the first Polish museum and research institution (the Archaeological Department at the Lubusz Land Museum in Zielona Góra) were laid by two young prehistorians – Dr Adam Kołodziejski and Edward Dąbrowski, MA. A little later, they were joined by Dr Andrzej Marcinkian.

The archaeologists employed in the department were highly active. As a result of numerous field surveys, there was a significant increase in the collection of historical artefacts. The format of a multi-departmental museum was no longer sufficient. Work began on establishing a specialist unit.

On 1 January 1982, the exhibition halls of the Archaeological Museum of the Middle Odra Region were opened to the public. Dr Adam Kołodziejski, the long-standing head of the archaeology department at the MZL, became the first director of the new institution. In 2001, he was succeeded in this post by Włodzimierz Rebelski, MA.