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.

From the Environmental Innovations Initiative

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. 

Louisa Shepard

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.

Michele W. Berger

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.

Michele W. Berger



In the News


ARS Technica

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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Huffington Post

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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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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Business Insider

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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WTOL (Toledo, Ohio)

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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