Sumerian Dictionary Project Director: Dr. Ake W. Sjöberg
(Babylonian Section, University Museum)
Sponsors: University Museum, National Endowment for the Humanities, Phoebe T. Haas Trust
The Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary Project Bas initiated in 1976. The aim of the Project is to produce the first comprehensive dictionary of the world’s first written language, Sumerian. This Dictionay will appear in eighteen volumes, each one devoted to a letter. The first volume to appear, volume B, Bas published in 1984. The staff off three curators and three research assistants is currently working on volume A, which will be more than three times the size of B. Tin’ Sumerian Dictionary gives meanings of words together with evidence for their usage, much as the Oxford English Dictionary. The Dictionary is composed from the 30,000 cuneiform tablets in The University Museum and more than 500,000 file cards. It is written on an up-to-date
computer system.
The Sumerian Dictionary Project and the research that flows from it serve to keep The University Museum in the forefront of cuneiform studies, as its has been since the first expedition to Iraq in 1885.
Egyptian Section: Philological Research and Publication Abides. The Pennsylvania-Yale Expedition to Abydas recovered many inscriptions and Britten documents in a variety of forms; all are of importance in the reconstruction of the history and function of different parts of the site William Kelly Simpson (Yale University: University Museum) is preparing many inscribed stelae and other items dating from Old Kingdom times to the Late Period (ca. 2500-300 B.C. for publication, as well as many ostraca (inscribed stone fragments and sherds), some relating to the building of a temple. David O’Connor (University Museum) is working on a group of Middle Kingdom stelae that carne from the unique ‘cenotaphs or memorial chapels discovered by the Expedition, as well as sonic miscellaneous inscribed material. David Silverman (University Museum) directed the copying of many fragmentary texts and scenes from an important temple off Ramesses II and will publish these. Kapure. The stone funerary chapel of the official named Kapure (ca. 2300 B..} is one of the great treasures of The University Museum but has never been properly published. The chapel walls are covered with important biographical and religious texts and with scenes of ritual and daily life (the latter include conversations between the workers). David Silverman is preparing a publication on this unusual monument in a form useful to both scholars and the general public.
Current Fieldwork
County Wicklow, Ireland—survey & field research
Director: B. Wailes (UM)
Sponsor: University Museum
La Quint, France—survey & field research
Assoc. Director: H. Dibble (t `NI) Co-sponsors: University Museum.
University of Arizona, Undiversity
of Bordeaux, Muses des Antiquites Nationales
Gla, Greece—excavation
Director: S. Iakovidis (UM)
Sponsor: Archaeological Society at Athens; participation by and training of University of Pennsylvania students funded by University Museum
Wadi al-jubab, Yemen—survey & test excavation
Chief Archaeologist: J, Sauer (UM); Field Directors: J. Blakely (Univ. of Pennsylvania), A. Chaleb (Univ. of Sauaa)
Sponsor: American Foundation for the Study of Man; participant: University Museum
Gritille, Turkey—excavation
Director: R. Ellis (Bryn Mawr College); Senior Archaeologist in Charge of Excavation: M. Voigt (UM)
Sponsors: Bryn Mawr College, University of North Carolina; participant (1981-84): University Museum
Abydos, Egypt
a) excavation of core area
Directors: D. O’Connor (UM).
W K. Simpson (Yale Univ.) Sponsors: University Museum,
Yale University
b) regional survey
Supervisor: D. O’Connor;
Director: D. C. Patch (UM) Sponsors: University Museum,
Yale Universityc)
Ramesses II Temple, Field
recording and study Director: D. Silverman (UM) Sponsors: University Museum,
Yale University
Marsa Matruh—survey Director: D. White (UM) Sponsor: University Museum
Rojdi, India—excavation
Director: G. Possehl (UM) Sponsors: University Museum,
Gujarat State Department of Archaeology
Thailand Archaeometallurgv Project—survey
Directors: V Pigott (UM), P Charoenwongsa, S. Natapintu (Thai Fine Arts Dept.)
Sponsors: University Museum, Thai Fine Arts Dept.
Northern Thai Ethnohistory Project—survey & field research Director: H. Peters (UM) Co-sponsors: The Institute for the
Study of Human Issues, Tribal
Research Center in Thailand,
University Museum
The Bugs, South Sulawesi province, Indonesia—anthropological & ethnographic study
Director: W. Davenport (UM) Sponsor: University Museum
Minangkabau, West Sumatra¬anthropological/ethnohistorical study
Director: P. Sanday (Univ. of Pennsylvania)
Sponsor: University Museum Silver Reef, Utah—excavation & archival research
Director: R. Schuyler (UM) Sponsor: University Museum
Bay of Honduras, Central America
—survey Director: R. Sharer (UM) Sponsor: University Museum
Analysis and Publication Projects
Dun Ailinne, Ireland—B. Wailes (UM)
University Museum collection of Greek & Greek-related figured pottery—Cerpus. Vasorum Antiquorwn K. Decries, R. Edwards (UM)
Gordion, Turkey Committee: R. H. Dyson. Jr.. K. Decries, K. Vellucci (UM), M. Mellink (Bryn Mawr), K. Sams (Univ. of N. Carolina, Chapel Hill); Series Editor, E. Kohler
Sumerian Dictionary Project Director: A. Sjoberg (UM); co-investigators, E. Leichty, B. Eichler (UM) Sponsors: NEH, University Museum, Phoebe T. Haas Trust Mesopotamian
Metals Project Directors: R. H. Dyson, Jr., J. D. Mussy (UM); co-investigators: S. Fleming, V Pigott, T. Stech (UM) Sponsors: NEH, UM (MASCA)
Sarepta, Lebanon J. Pritchard (U M)
Tell es-Sa’idiyeh, Jordan J. Pritchard (UM) Tell
Hesban, Jordan
Principal Investigator: J.Sauer (U I) Sponsor: Andrews University (M1): participant: University Museum
Bacfah Valley, Jordan
P. McGovern (UM)
Hasanlu Project, Iran
Committee: R. H. Dyson, Jr., Maude de Schanensee, Mary Virginia I I arris, Mary Voigt (U NI)
Sponsors: Undiversity Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Iranian Center for Archaeological Research
Malayan, Iran
Director: W M. Sumner (Ohio State Univ.)
Sponsors: University Museum, Ohio State University
Tepe Hissar, Iran
R. H. Dyson, Jr. (UM)
Sponsors: University Museum, Turin University, Iranian Center for Archaeological Research
Tepe Hissar Skeletal Material
- Johnston (Univ. of Pennsylvania), MASCA
Cyrene, Libya D. White (UM)
Mohenjo Daro, Pakistan
- Dales (Univ. of Californian, Berkeley) Sponsor: University Museums M
Hellenistic and Roman Influences on the Ceramics of Eastern and Western India
Director: V Begley (UM)
Sponsors: Smithsonian Institution, University Museum
Ban Chiang, Thailand
G. Possess, J. White (UM) Sponsors: University Museum, Thai Fine Arts Department
Solomon Islands, S. Pacific W. Davenport (UM)
Iron Production in the Northeastern United States
- Schenck (UM), MASCA
University Museum North American Collections
S. Kaplan (UM)
Tikal, Guatemala W. Coe (UM)
Quirigua, Guatemala R. Sharer (UM)
Verapaz Survey, Guatemala R. Sharer (UM)