The prehistoric collection currently contains 225.000 finds catalogued, referring to a chronological arc that extends from the Middle Paleolithic to the early Iron Age, the result of research and discoveries conducted in over 130 locations in the Friulian territory. It includes:
- stone materials (flint, obsidian, green stone, heavy stone),
- earthenware vessels and works of art,
- manufactured from bone or animal material (bone, horn, stage),
- finds of metal,
- animal bones,
- anthropological remains.

The first series inventoried in the collection is to be reported to the Grotto of Robič, a cavity located just north of the pass of Stupizza now in Slovenia, which Achille Tellini, a naturalist from Friuli, investigated in 1894. Other materials from various caves of the Natisone Valleys, such as Velika Jama, Ciondar des Paganis, Fòran di Landri e Šuošterjova Jama, which were excavated by members of the Speleological and Hydrological Circle of Friuli in the first decades of the last century and which have recently become the subject of a new research project.

Following research carried out in the field, the section houses the materials of another site located in the Natisone Valleys, the Biarzo Shelter, and some Neolithic sites on the plain, such as Sammardenchia (Pozzuolo del Friuli) e Piancada (Palazzolo dello Stella) e Nogaredo al Torre. 

Consult the bibliography of Prehistory and Protohistory of Friuli Venezia Giulia .