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Archaeology
Kathleen Morrison on biodiversity and climate change
The faculty director of the Environmental Innovations Initiative, her research spans anthropology, archaeology, and paleoecology, involving the study of historic climates and environments, with a focus on South Asia.
Penn Museum excavation designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site
Gordion, Turkey, is the first active Penn Museum archaeological site to be named in the UNESCO World Heritage List
Ancient food and flavor
Food remains dating back as far as 6,000 years found at archaeological sites are now on view in a new indoor-outdoor exhibition at the Penn Museum, “Ancient Food & Flavor,” through the fall of 2024.
Virtual reality in an ancient world
Students create films to document the reimagining of the Penn Museum’s Ancient Egypt and Nubia galleries.
Reconsidering world heritage for the modern era
Through recent research, archaeologist and Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor Lynn Meskell has continued to highlight how World Heritage Sites have become flashpoints for conflict and out of touch with local communities.
Whole-genome analysis offers clarity about remains of 36 enslaved Africans in 18th-century Charleston
Building on previous work from the community-initiated Anson Street African Burial Ground project, a team of researchers from Penn led a community-engaged collaborative study that confirmed that the individuals closely align genetically with populations in West and West Central Africa.
At a southern Iraq site, unearthing the archaeological passing of time
When Holly Pittman and colleagues from the University of Pennsylvania and University of Pisa returned to Lagash in the fall of 2022 for a fourth season, they knew they’d find more than ceramic fragments and another kiln.
New Eastern Mediterranean Gallery opens at the Penn Museum
Featuring 400 objects that span a period of 4,000 years, the Penn Museum is opening its new Eastern Mediterranean Gallery, the latest step in a multi-year building transformation.
The story the bowls tell
In an ambitious new project, historian Simcha Gross and Harvard’s Rivka Elitzur-Leiman are studying hundreds of ancient incantation bowls housed at the Penn Museum. They hope to better understand the objects and eventually, build a database of all these bowls worldwide.
Solving the mystery of migration into Micronesia
Penn anthropologist Theodore Schurr explains how the use of both ancient DNA and modern genetic materials revealed five paths into this western Pacific region of Oceania, and uncovered subtleties about the society’s marital customs.
In the News
Mummified baboons point to the direction of the fabled land of Punt
Josef Wegner of the School of Arts & Sciences and Penn Museum says that archaeologists have long entertained theories on the locale of ancient Egyptian trading partner Punt, despite the lack of precise directions.
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There’s a reason why your boyfriend or husband is obsessed with the Roman Empire
Kimberly Bowes of the School of Arts & Sciences believes that modern-day male obsession with the Roman Empire has something to do with men’s preoccupation of power.
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‘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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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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From the Sphinx to the Terracotta Army, photos show 10 historical sites when they were discovered and after they were excavated
Penn researchers are credited for their contributions to the 1956 to 1966 excavation of Tikal in Guatemala and the Great Ziggurat of Ur in modern-day Iraq.
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Final resting place of freed slaves in Defiance County to receive Ohio Historic Marker
Penn researchers used dogs, ground-penetrating radar, and historical records to confirm the location of the nearly forgotten Worthington Cemetery in Ohio, the burial site of around 50 freed slaves.
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