Sometime in 2009, before I came to the museum, there was a major migration in both server, platform and URL of the Museums’ website. These were necessary and progressive moves in the ever changing technological landscape, however, it was not without cost. In the same way time and earth might cover over the traces of [...]
Crumb duster, lip tickler, ‘mo – call it what you will, mustaches are an ever-present sight throughout human history. Since November is also Movember (a movement to promote awareness of Prostate and Testicular cancer), we decided to get in the mustachioed spirit and post an image a day of some of our favorite mustaches (with [...]
![Graph taken from publication of Libby's Nobel Laureate address, showing Penn Museum's own Aha-Nakht[sic] as one of the baseline known dates.](http://www.penn.museum/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/c14graph-150x150.jpg "Permalink to Willard Libby, Alfred Nobel, and Ahanakht")
How cool is this? While working on a post for our Artifact Lab blog, I Googled Ahanakht, the ancient Egyptian buried in an elaborately inscribed wooden coffin in our collection. Besides learning that Ahanakht I was the first Middle Kingdom governor of the Hare nome (province) in around 2000 BCE, I got a result citing [...]
While this sandstone statue of Sitepihu dates to the Eighteenth Dynasty (around 1470 BCE), the block figure itself was a type that was introduced at the beginning of the Twelfth Dynasty (around 1900 BCE), several hundred years earlier. It represents a squatting male figure with a long cloak enveloping his entire body. His arms are [...]
Last week the preparations for the Artifact Lab (see my previous post) really began to gather speed. On Monday, Molly Gleeson the project conservator arrived and was immediately plunged into the preparations. Molly, a graduate of the UCLA/Getty program in the Conservation of Archaeological and Ethnographic Materials, has experience and interest in public outreach regarding [...]
This wand was carved from a hippopotamus tusk and decorated with nine magical figures including a lion, frog, gazelle, vulture and a cat. Each of these figures are seated on top of a hieroglyph. The lion head is seen at larger end of the tusk and a jackal head decorates the pointy end of the [...]
Almost all Egyptian gods and goddesses could take the form of an animal. Osiris, the god of the dead, never developed animal associations. That is because he symbolizes the idea of the mummified pharaoh. To the ancient Egyptians, Osiris was the first mummy in history and every person whose body was mummified was following in [...]
This sandstone statue was made sometime between 100 BCE and 300 CE. He is wearing a fringed robe with several necklaces and armbands. In his hands he carries a staff and a pinecone-shaped object. Over his head is a sundisk and behind him are a pair of large wings. The Egyptian ba was believed to [...]
Today’s object of the day is a new addition to the galleries. This colorful and beautifully decorated cartonnage mummy case lid is now on display in the Secrets and Science gallery. What is cartonnage? Cartonnage is a material consisting of several layers of linen or papyrus pasted together and covered by a thin layer of [...]
This Egyptian kneeling statue was created around 1351 BCE. The statue is made of bronze gilded with gold. With his arms missing, this king sits kneeling, wearing a nemes headdress. His broad hips and elongated facial features indicate that he was made in the latter part of the Amarna Period. There are traces of the [...]
