Penn Museum Blog | Day of Archaeology 2014

This Friday, July 11 the Penn Museum is participating in a Day of Archaeology 2014, which is a communal project that invites people from all over the world who work, study, or volunteer in the archaeological field to share their day. The goal of the project is show the world “why archaeology is vital to protect the past and inform our futures.” Yet, a Day of Archaeology also allows those in the trenches (I mean that literally and figuratively) to share what being an archaeologist or what working in an archaeology museum is really all about.

Just walking down the hall here at the Penn Museum yields some "interesting" sights. I call them Halls of Fun! — Just walking down the hall here at the Penn Museum yields some “interesting” sights. I call them Halls of Fun!

It should come as no surprise to readers of this blog that the day-to-day work of archaeologists and anthropologists isn’t as glamorous or as dangerous as the Indiana Jones franchise made it out to be (but we still love Indy). That said, everyday I do see, hear, or read about something amazing going on within these walls. For instance, we have two conservation interns who stare at the same two large Buddhist murals all day, every day. But Cassia Balogh spies some truly incredible and heretofore unseen details everyday. Or there was also that time when Katy Blanchard thought she was just watching some TV, but soon realized that objects featured on The Cosmos, were the same objects that she works with everyday. We also deal with the unexpected in our day-to-day, like Nina Owczarek from conservation, who found that a simple looking alabaster head held a couple of strange surprises for her. Through our blog we share many aspects of our work, and the Day of Archaeology is now a chance for us and many others from around the world to share the fun parts, the dirty parts, the boring parts, and the truly exciting and spectacular fun parts of being in the archaeology field that is all in a days work!

Summer camp is in session! And we'll also be documenting what young archaeologists and anthropologists in the making do in a day's work. — Summer camp is in session! So we’ll also be documenting what young archaeologists and anthropologists in the making do in a day’s work.

If you check out the website for the Day of Archaeology you’ll find a variety of blog posts from this and past years from across the globe where contributors have documented their day through videos, photos, and written posts. We’ll be sharing our work through next week on the official blog, via social media, and here on our own blog. Be sure to follow #DayofArch and enjoy learning about archaeology from people across the world!