Volume 39 : Articles

A Minerva-Victoria from Cyrene

By: Irene Bald Romano

Until about ten years ago, visitors to the University of Pennsylvania Museum were greeted at the top of the stairs leading to the Greek gallery by the striking half-scale marble statue of a god­dess clothed in swirling drapery (Figs. 1-3). The statue was loaned to the Museum in 1935 by its owner, Raymond Pitcairn. During […]

By: Jeremy A. Sabloff

Looking at the rich array and diversity of the articles in this issue of Expedition, I was struck by the feeling that even those of us who know the University of Pennsylvania Museum well tend to forget about the incredible importance of our permanent collection. We rightfully celebrate the extraordinary research that our staff undertakes […]

Evaluating Chaco Anasazi Roadways Using GIS Technology

By: John Kantner

The study of roads can provide archaeologists with information on prehistoric cultures that often cannot be discovered by digging in ruins or ana­lyzing artifacts in a laboratory. Ancient roadways were the ties that bound societies together (Fig. 1). Food and valuables were transported over them from village to vil­lage. People traveled, on them to attend […]

Pots and Politics in Highland Guatemala

By: Elin C. Danien

One of the ironies of archaeology is that as it has matured and changed from what was called “antiquarianism” to a more scientific discipline, its practitioners have tended to ignore early museum collections gathered on an indiscriminate basis and to concentrate their efforts instead on new excavations designed to test hypotheses and methodologies. Certain­ly, modern […]

Reconsidering the Meaning of Matriarchy

By: Peggy Reeves Sanday

There are many living societies in the world today in which women hold positions of signif­icant power and authority in the public domain, posi­tions that are quite different from what we know in contemporary Western society. Knowledge of such soci­eties goes as far back as reports on the ancient Lycians of Asia Minor. Early Greek […]

The Museum's Lead Burial Casket from Tyre

By: Donald White

Many have taken voluminous pains to determine the state of the soul upon disunion; but men have been most phantastical in the singular contrivances of their corporall dissolution; whilst the soberest Nations have rested in two wayes, of simple inhumation and burning. – Sir Thomas Browne, Hydriotaphia; Urne-Burriall (London 1658) The Classical Greeks and Romans shared […]

By: Helen Schenck

This is the second issue of Expedition Magazine to focus on Roman topics in the space of a year. Like last year’s issue on “Glass in the Roman World” (Vol. 38, No. 2), it is designed in part to accompany the Museum’s up-coming exhibit, Roman Glass: Reflections on Cultural Change. The exhibition, which opens on […]

By: Jeremy A. Sabloff

As I write this column, the President’s Summit on America’s Future is about to take place in Philadelphia. This Summit puts a national spotlight on the cru­cial role that volunteerism plays in our lives and the need to bolster such efforts throughout our communities. Closer to borne, it reminds us how important volun­teers are to […]

By: John Scarborough

Among early Byzantine physicians, Alexander of Tralles (AD 525-605) attracts the admira­tion not only of medical historians, but also of modem doctors. His appeal is due to his direct experience in the practice of medicine and in the manifold aspects of pro­viding and modifying treatments for patients, as spelled out in his extant tracts. His […]

A Photo Essay

By: Stuart J. Fleming

The Roman glassmaking industry took root in the late 1st century BC and became established through the 2nd century AD. Business-minded Romans adopted the earlier Hellenistic technology of casting and the novel eastern Mediterranean technologies of free-blowing and mold-blowing to fully develop the com­mercial potential of glass. The growth of the industry was facilitated by […]