Pristine

Pristine archaeology finds have a very slim chance to be created when solving common pandaren, mogu or mantid artifacts, beginning in Mists of Pandaria. The pristine version of the item starts a quest to put the item on permanent display at the Seat of Knowledge in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms on Pandaria.

The system was continued in Warlords of Draenor with arakkoa, Draenor clan and ogre artifacts. Once the player reaches level 100 and upgrades their garrison to Tier 3, they can display their pristine artifacts in the garrison's Town Hall.

In Legion, the number of artifacts (and in turn, pristines) was drastically reduced to five per race, 15 in total. Pristine projects are returned to Things of the Past in Dalaran. The previous expansions' many projects meant that getting the last few pristines is very painful to complete, and thus, less and less fun.

In Battle for Azeroth, both races have six artifacts. They are displayed in Dazar'alor and Boralus.