 In addition to a large repository of photographs documenting tribal life from the 1860s to the present , the museum 's collection includes 496 archaeological artifacts recovered from the site of the former Old Man House , a massive , 240 meters ( 790 ft ) long longhouse that served as the Suquamish capitol until its destruction in the late nineteenth century . Originally in the custody of the Burke Museum at the University of Washington , the artifacts , which include harpoon points , smoking pipes , and jewelry , were transferred to the Suquamish tribe in 2013 . In 2014 , the Port of Seattle transferred additional artifacts to the museum , including crockery and glass bottles , discovered during archaeological excavations in the 1970s at the Baba 'kwob site , a pre @-@ contact village located in what is now Seattle 's Belltown neighborhood . The controversial transfer was contested by the Duwamish , an unrecognized tribe and historic Suquamish rival who claim ownership of the artifacts . 
