4/16
Louisa Shepard
Senior News Officer
lshepard@upenn.edu
Anthropology
A shared past for East Africa’s hunter-gatherers
A shared past for East Africa’s hunter-gatherers
PIK Professor Sarah Tishkoff, Laura Scheinfeldt, and Sameer Soi use data from 50 populations to study African genetic diversity. Their analysis suggests that geographically far-flung hunter-gatherer groups share a common ancestry.
The diversity of rural African populations extends to their microbiomes
The diversity of rural African populations extends to their microbiomes
In the largest study of its kind, researchers led by PIK Professor Sarah Tishkoff, Matthew Hansen, and Meagan Rubel investigated the gut microbiomes of people from Botswana and Tanzania, and illuminate the impact of lifestyle, geography, and genetics in shaping the microbiome.
State Department awards Penn $2 million to preserve cultural heritage in northern Iraq
State Department awards Penn $2 million to preserve cultural heritage in northern Iraq
The two-phase, three-year project aims to revitalize the city and its culture.
Marking the winter solstice, from Neolithic times to today
Marking the winter solstice, from Neolithic times to today
For millennia, people have marked the winter solstice with rituals and celebrations—and they continue to do so today. Penn Museum anthropologists Lucy Fowler Williams and Megan Kassabaum discuss both ancient and contemporary customs associated with attending to the shortest day of the year.
Making campuses more inclusive of Native ideology
Making campuses more inclusive of Native ideology
A recent panel considered how to transform the worldview on university campuses to be more inclusive of Native ideology and more intentional about indigenization.
The Healing Word
The Healing Word
Deborah Thomas embeds herself in communities stricken by violence to chronicle the humanity revealed during the aftermath.
A new take on the 19th-century skull collection of Samuel Morton
A new take on the 19th-century skull collection of Samuel Morton
After unearthing and analyzing handwritten documentation from scientist Samuel Morton, doctoral candidate Paul Wolff Mitchell drew a new conclusion about the infamous 19th-century collection: Though Morton accurately measured the brain size of hundreds of human skulls, racist bias still plagued his science.
Invisible partners: Recovering relationships in early anthropological research
Invisible partners: Recovering relationships in early anthropological research
Margaret Bruchac, an assistant professor of anthropology, examines the social relationships between early 20th-century anthropological collectors and Indigenous collaborators.
Exploring the human propensity to cooperate
Exploring the human propensity to cooperate
Working with a nomadic group in Tanzania, one of the last remaining nomadic hunter-gatherer populations, Penn psychologists show that cooperation is flexible, not fixed.
Collective grief over loss from Brazil’s National Museum fire
Collective grief over loss from Brazil’s National Museum fire
Members of the Penn Museum’s archeological community discuss the devastation felt over the destruction of an invaluable piece of world history.
Media Contact
In the News
Time
Why Indigenous artifacts should be returned to Indigenous communities
The Penn Museum is noted for creating its “Native American Voices: The People—Here and Now” exhibit with the help of tribal representatives.
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Associated Press
International Women’s Day is a celebration and call to action. Beware the flowers and candy
Kristen Ghodsee of the School of Arts & Sciences explores International Women’s Day as a tool for activism in Russian history.
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Hindustan Times (Delhi)
Coastline in crisis: Six experts give us their climate manifesto for Mumbai
Nikhil Anand of the School of Arts & Sciences identifies three key areas of focus to reduce the vulnerability of Mumbai’s residents facing the brunt of water infrastructure issues, particularly those living in slums.
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Miami Herald
‘Spectacular’ statue of a fish-tailed ‘minion’ god found at ancient Roman burial site
According to research from the School of Arts & Sciences, ancient Romans believed that the god Triton lived in a golden palace at the bottom of the sea.
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Philadelphia Business Journal
Penn Museum to start work on $54M Ancient Egypt and Nubia galleries project, the largest renovation in its history
The Penn Museum plans to begin renovation on its $54 million Ancient Egypt and Nubia galleries this fall, with remarks from Christopher Woods.
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Wired
Maybe you should just join a commune
Kristen Ghodsee of the School of Arts & Sciences discusses the benefits of communal living and the restructuring of the traditional nuclear family.
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