The Curatorial faculty of The University Museum today reached the unanimous conclusion that they would purchase no more art objects or antiquities for the Museum unless the objects are accompanied by a pedigree—that is, information about the different owners of the objects, place of origin, legality of export, and other data useful in each individual case.
—Opening sentence of The Pennsylvania Declaration, April 1, 1970
In the spring of 1970, the Penn Museum distinguished itself from its peers by stating publicly that it would not follow traditional acquisition practices that could directly or inadvertently lead to the looting of ancient sites. Issues that surrounded the celebrated Pennsylvania Declaration reverberate to this day, as countries such as Italy and Greece attempt to recover artifacts that were illegally removed from their place of origin.
The summer issue of Expedition opens with an article by Alessandro Pezzati, the Penn Museum’s Senior Archivist; he provides context to this momentous decision in the Museum’s history. This is followed by short pieces on a Byzantine cameo, part of the Sommerville Collection of gemstones, and interesting finds connected with fieldwork in Laos and Thailand. Our first feature article—written by one of the curators of Archaeologists & Travelers in Ottoman Lands, an exhibition opening in September—is a spirited account of three men whose lives overlapped: an unknown photographer, a famous painter and archaeologist, and an infamous Assyriologist. You will enjoy this article, especially the true story of the Museum’s own Hermann Vollrath Hilprecht. Our second feature— focusing on new discoveries at the Guatemalan site of Nakum—was written by two young Polish archaeologists. In just five seasons of fieldwork, they have uncovered evidence that may change perceptions of the Protoclassic period in the Maya Lowlands. Our last feature is an intriguing look at rock art around the world; the authors—a comparative linguist and a plasma physicist—examine the possibility that some petroglyphs represented ancient astronomical events. The feature articles are followed by a photo essay that celebrates Anthropologists in the Making, the Museum’s popular summer camp. We end with “Museum Mosaic” and the review of a new book on soy by a Penn anthropologist who focuses on food and culture.