This month we have begun examining clay figurines from Ur. Our goal is to confirm museum object associations with field records. Here are two examples to show the process, challenges, and a little detail on the imagery: Artifacts of the month Spotlight on field number U.1527 (museum number B15689) and field number U.18001B? (museum number [...]
This week, Thomas and Max give us new ways to look at Harpoon-shaped Head: Pointy Sharp, Shiny Stabbing, Throwing, Battling What is it made of? Wood by Thomas Sharp Brown, Amazed Amazing, Interesting, Attracting How was it made? Awesome by Max
This week highlights two iconic objects from the Iraq’s Ancient Past exhibition: Ram in the Thicket and Puabi’s Diadem and Headdress. Here is what the guest interpreters had to say: Ram Caught in a Thicket Shiny A ram, Curious Kicking, Standing, Eating Why did they create this? Stuck by Marley Puabi’s Golden Headdress Pretty Big, [...]
This week, Abington School District guest interpreters Jacob and Kaileb give us two new ways to look at Penn Museum’s iconic Lyre with Bearded Bull’s Head and Inlaid Panel. Horns Cool, Creepy Living, Snorting, Kicking Where did it come from? Brown by Jacob Bull-like Amazing, Surprised Attracting, Interesting, Amusing How did they make it? Beard [...]
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 [...]
One of the responsibilities of the conservation department is to provide advice and consultation on conservation matters for colleagues, the university community and the general public. The University Community often produces some interesting queries, like the time the ICA wanted to know how to prevent pest problems when exhibiting artworks made of chocolate. Some time [...]
Last week, two couriers from Penn Museum, Assistant Archivist Eric Schnittke and Collections Assistant Jim Moss, traveled to Madrid, Spain to oversee the installation of 64 Near East and Babylonian objects along with 20 archival documents at CaixaForum Madrid. Antes del diluvio. Mesopotamia 3500-2100 aC (Before the Flood: Mesopotamia 3500-1200 BC) pulls together over 400 objects [...]
This month we had a week-long visit from archaeo-metallurgists from the Deutches Bergbau-Museum, the University of Franfurt am Main, and the University of Toulouse, Le Mirail. They brought with them some impressive equipment for spot analysis of many metal objects from Ur and will do more in-depth studies of the results back in their home [...]
As both a Penn Anthropology PhD and a Museum Consulting Scholar, I am extremely concerned with saving our shared cultural heritage, whose study allows us to know so much about both the past and who we are today. And having worked in extremely poor communities where so many archaeological sites are located, I want to [...]
If you ask me, there is always something interesting going on in the Artifact Lab, and yesterday was no exception. If you have been following the Artifact Lab blog, you will know that we have been working on one of the mummies in our collection, who we refer to as PUM I. PUM stands for [...]
