Conservation and Teaching Labs to Open Fall 2014 A new commitment from longtime Penn Museum benefactors A. Bruce and Margaret R. Mainwaring has completed funding for a full renovation of the conservation and teaching laboratories on the first 8oor of the West Wing of the Museum’s original 1899 building. Construction on the renovated spaces began […]
By: Caroline Kee
Tucked behind Penn’s Greenfield Intercultural Center (GIC) at 37th and Chestnut is a small, narrow lot. For many years, it was just that—a backyard space that GIC students and staff used occasionally for barbecues and receptions. Aside from a couple of new flowerpots, it was mostly unkempt; weeds speckled the yellowed grass and tangled grape […]
By: Jane Hickman
The Fall 2014 issue of Expedition is truly an international edition, with stories and photographs from Iraq, Kenya, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, Mexico, and Guatemala. We begin with Reports from the Field, which highlights Museum-sponsored research in Satu Qala, Iraq by Lauren Ristvet and Cinzia Pappi, and Calakmul, Mexico by Simon Martin. Our article on the […]
By: Lauren Ristvet and Cinzia Pappi
In 1177 BCE, the armies of Ramses III, the pharaoh of Egypt, fought pitched battles on land and sea against a motley group of opponents that the Egyptians christened the Sea Peoples. Before reaching Egypt, the Sea Peoples had already menaced cities and kingdoms in Anatolia (modern Turkey) and up and down the Eastern Mediterranean […]
By: Jennifer Chiappardi
On a recent trip to Kenya, Dr. Kathleen Ryan of the Penn Museum, along with Paul Mitchell, Louise Hansen, and Erika Hoff, excavated pastoral Neolithic sites in the Laikipia Plateau to identify when the enzyme for milk digestion may have developed in the span of human evolution. The expedition included frequent interactions with the Maasai, […]
By: Janet Simon
This is the story of two individuals drawn together through their work in Maya archaeology, who later developed a friendship that transcended their professional lives. From archival materials, we reconstructed their relationship at a critical period just after World War II. The story of Mary Butler and Franz Termer is one of unique kindness. Across […]
By: Simon Martin
If you were to fly low over the forests of southeastern Mexico, about 35 km from the border with Guatemala, you would see two immense mounds rising high above the canopy. These ruined pyramids announce the presence of Calakmul, one of the greatest cities of Classic Maya civilization (300–900 CE). Beneath the trees lie 6,000 […]
By: Cynthia Jones Eiseman
From its beginnings at Penn in the 1960s to today’s Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA), the discipline of underwater archaeological research is associated with George F. Bass. Bass spearheaded developments in the mapping, measuring, photographing, excavating, and conservation of underwater sites, revolutionizing our understanding of ancient maritime history. INA, under Bass’ direction, continued the effort […]
By: Jennifer Houser Wegner
We have had raised at Memphis a colossal sphinx of Rameses II about 11 feet long, 11 ton weight. The head has been much weathered, the body and inscribed base are perfect, of red granite… Would such a piece as this be acceptable for your Museum? With these lines, the renowned archaeologist, William Matthew Flinders […]
By: Gareth Darbyshire and Christopher Ray
In 2016, a spectacular new exhibition of Anatolian archaeology will open at the Penn Museum. The show’s theme is the archaeology, history, and culture of Phrygia—an ancient region located in what is today central Turkey, and which, in the 9th and 8th centuries BCE, was a powerful Iron Age kingdom centered on the city of […]