Anthropology is a very broad field, encompassing the subfields of archaeology, biological anthropology, cultural anthropology, and linguistic anthropology. In this summer issue of Expedition we are pleased to present feature articles incorporating each of these sub-disciplines.
We begin in Indonesian Borneo, where a cultural anthropologist explores the nature of families and their place in the afterlife among practitioners of Kaharingan, the traditional religion of the Ngaju Dayaks. We then turn to an interdisciplinary study aimed at identifying the evolution of human language and speech capabilities. Can our growing understanding of how the brain processes language be coupled with anatomical analyses of our ancestor’s vocal tracts to elucidate the development of human speech and the role it played in our evolution? In our third feature article, another cultural anthropologist whisks us away to Tuscany, Italy, and asks us to consider the growing phenomena of culinary travel. Have you been a culinary tourist? What tourist scapes have captured your gaze? Next, we journey north of the border to the Eastern Slopes of the Canadian Rockies where archaeologists working for a Cultural Resource Management firm are expanding our knowledge about the prehistory of North America’s indigenous peoples.
Our special feature article is a retrospective piece by a former Associate Curator in the Museum’s Mediterranean Section. Back in the 1960s our Museum was famous for its association with underwater archaeology and the exploration of ancient shipwrecks in the Eastern Mediterranean. How did that come about and where is George Bass now?
This issue also introduces you to the Associate Curator-in-Charge of the Museum’s Babylonian Section, while saying goodbye to a good friend, the Associate Curator Emeritus in the Mediterranean Section. As usual, our Museum Mosaic will inform you about some of the Museum’s recent and upcoming events. Finally, we end with a sneak peek at some fascinating new scientific research involving the Museum’s famous collection from the Royal Tombs of Ur.
We always welcome feedback and hope you find this issue and our website (http://www.penn.museum/expedition-magazine.html)—which now hosts a full archive of back issues of Expedition—worth sharing with your family and friends.
James R. Mathieu, Ph.D.|
Editor