The museum's artefacts were discovered on the island, at Lilibeo (now Marsala) and in the necropolis of Birgi, on the coast, by archaeologist, Joseph Whitaker. Phoenician ceramics and Greek vases form the bulk of the collections. But the highlight is one of the sculptures, the Giovinetto di Mozia, a noble and proud-looking statue of a young man in long, finely folded robes.