The Winter issue of Expedition begins with a special section on Butrint, an archaeological site and national park located on a scenic stretch of land in western Albania. Richard Hodges, the Williams Director of the Museum, has been associated with Butrint since 1994. Our first article describes the research that led to a greater understanding of the fortifications at the site. Since this work was carried out a few years ago, we added a short second article that provides an update on recent excavations and surveys. As I spoke with the authors of these articles, a political dimension to various descriptions of Butrint emerged, which we have tried to capture in the two subsequent articles. When the site was first investigated and published in the 1920s and 1930s, the excavator, Luigi Maria Ugolini, was keen on promoting the site’s ancient and more recent connections to his homeland, Italy. And when Nikita Khrushchev visited Butrint in 1959, he saw no use for the “dead things” he was shown at the site; he announced he would turn Butrint into a submarine base. Events associated with these two men, along with Enver Hoxha, the communist leader of Albania after World War II, are vividly described.
We then move to East Africa with a photographic essay on a current Penn Museum research project, including the people, animals, and sights encountered during the 2009 field season. If you want to see more photographs from Africa, we encourage you to visit the Penn Museum website. Finally, we return to Philadelphia with a scholarly and entertaining article on the turtles of Philadelphia’s culinary past. You will learn about the importance of turtles in late 18th and early 19th century cuisine, the species of turtles used in cooking, and how turtles were prepared and served.
Also included in this issue are several short articles, including a profile of Loa Traxler, the new Andrew W. Mellon Associate Deputy Director of the Museum, and a review of David O’Connor’s recent book on Abydos. “From the Archives” has a slightly different format this month, with the addition of a short piece by someone with a personal connection to the story of the 1931 Matto Grosso Expedition to Brazil.
Several of the articles in this issue include links to the Penn Museum website, where you will find related articles, films, or additional photographs. Keep in mind that Expedition’s website also provides you with access to over 50 years of back issues of the magazine.
Jane Hickman
Editor