Welcome to the Penn Museum blog. First launched in January 2009, the Museum blog now has over 800 posts covering a range of topics in the categories of Museum, Collection, Exhibitions, Research, and By Location. Here you’ll hear directly from our staff and Penn students about their work, research, experiences, and discoveries. To explore the Museum's other digital content, visit The Digital Penn Museum.
Beneath the Surface: Geoprospecting in Arkansas – Justin Reamer
By: Anne Tiballi
From May 15th to 19th, I attended the 2017 National Park Service Archaeological Geoprospection Workshop held at the Pea Ridge National Military Park (the site of the largest Civil War battle west of the Mississippi River) in Pea Ridge, Arkansas. As an archaeologist whose research is focused on the northeastern United States, northwestern Arkansas was […]
Cultural Heritage, Development, and Local Communities in Jordan and Egypt – Robert James Vigar
By: Anne Tiballi
This summer I traveled to Jordan and Egypt to conduct exploratory research for my thesis. As a first year PhD student in Anthropology this was an early opportunity for me to get out into the field and begin investigating the questions that have been fermenting in my mind over the past few years. Questions surrounding […]
Writing the History of Gordion – Katherine Ku
By: Anne Tiballi
This past summer, I had the opportunity to travel to Yassihöyük, Turkey, to work as the registrar for the Gordion Archaeological Project. It was an incredible experience to become part of the story of such an important excavation – almost like becoming part of the history of the very place I was studying. Beyond this, […]
Encounters in the Cathedral: Revisiting the 1678 Huron-Wendat Wampum Belt at Chartres, France
By: Margaret Bruchac
Every year the Penn Museum provides support to Penn undergraduates and graduate students as they deepen their understanding of the human experience outside the Museum’s walls. Follow these blog posts from our intrepid young scholars as they report on the sights and sites that they encounter throughout their travels in the field. Report from the field […]
Exploring the Wonders of Central Asia – Petya Andreeva
By: Anne Tiballi
My current project involves studying metalwork excavated from burials across the Eurasian steppe, specifically gold and silver objects from elite burials associated with early Iron Age nomadic groups which once inhabited the northern Chinese periphery and the regions further west, all the way to the Crimean peninsula. I am particularly interested in the depictions of […]
Sacred Spaces of Rome – Timothy Warnock
By: Anne Tiballi
One can read books and look at site plans all day, but until one gets up-close and personal with the objects and spaces they study, it is hard to truly appreciate the complexity, size, and environment of the subject at hand. With funding from the Penn Museum, I was able to attend the Classical Summer […]