Category:Fun!

By: Jennifer Reifsteck

The month of April is a month full of dedications – everything from Fools (April 1) to Administrative Professionals (April 24) and even the whole Earth itself (April 22) receive a special day.  My personal favorite celebration for April is National Poetry Month. Back in February, second graders from Abington School District visited the Penn […]

By: Michael Condiff

Was beer critical in the development of civilization, agriculture, mathematics, bookkeeping, writing and language? Did beer help build the pyramids? Was beer used to treat certain afflictions and was it unknowingly used as an ancient antibiotic? Was beer safer to consume than water in the middle ages? Find out the answers to all these questions […]

By: Ashley Harper

Corn is an important part of Maya culture. In the Popol Vuh, Maya cosmology holds that the Gods created the first humans from an ear of corn. Another sign of the importance of corn is the multiple names it has in Mayan language. The tortilla, a dietary staple, also has several names that  change depending […]

By: Simon Martin

The Maya are well known for their achievements in counting and documenting time, but do they deserve a reputation for human sacrifice? For ancient Americans this was a ritualized practice that was considered a payment to the Gods for the gift of life. The Aztec are believed to have conducted mass human sacrifice, but the evidence we have for the […]

By: Bill Wierzbowski

One hundred years ago this year (when the Penn Museum was just celebrating the 25th anniversary of its founding) a letter arrived on the desk of then Director, George Byron Gordon.  The post was from James H. McGlaughlin, who ran a trading post on Standing Rock Reservation, in North Dakota.  In it, McGlaughlin replied to […]

By: Ashley Harper

It’s Shark Week and how better to celebrate than with a shark inspired creation! Enjoy our shark salad! For this summer’s best dish please read directions and reference images below 🙂 What you will need: 1: Shark hook, from Oceania, held in Penn Museum’s collection. For more info click here! 2: Weapon with shark teeth, […]

By: Naomi Miller

Ayşe knows everyone in the Yassıhöyük, and one of her friends is Metin the shepherd. Last year, he sold all his sheep and replaced them with a herd of (mostly) angora goats—the kind of goat that produces mohair—which I guess makes him a goat herder. We went out to the corral to watch him prepare […]

By: Ashley Harper

A hot and humid August day gets a refreshing twist during Penn Museum’s Summer Nights concert series. This time we heard the luscious sounds of musicians: Orlando Haddad and Patricia King. They formed Minas in 1978 at North Carolina School of the Arts and have been traveling both around the U.S and South America ever […]

By: Ashley Harper

What do the Olympic games from circa 405 BC have in common with London’s in 2012? A key may be in the representation of Victory. Read what two representations of Victory reveal about our understanding of the Olympics.

By: Nathaniel

When my mom asked me if I wanted to go to last week’s Museum camp in February and she said it was about games I said “Sure.” I thought it would be fun because I already learned how to play the game Mancala last year at the Museum’s Domino Event and I was really good at […]