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Declassified images from U2 spy planes reveal bygone Middle Eastern archaeological features
Satellite images of a desert in Jordan in the Middle East.

Desert kites, stone wall structures that date back 5,000 to 8,000 years like those shown above, were used to trap gazelle and other similar animals. The dry desert of eastern Jordan preserved many of them, but agricultural expansion in western Jordan dismantled or destroyed many more.

Declassified images from U2 spy planes reveal bygone Middle Eastern archaeological features

Researchers from Penn and Harvard are the first to make archaeological use of U2 spy plane imagery, and have created a tool that allows other researchers to identify and access the Cold War-era photos.

Michele W. Berger

Egypt on display
a 4,000-year-old model of a rowing boat featuring 16 figures

A new Penn Museum exhibition showcases 200 artifacts from its vast Egyptian collection, as well as their conservation, including a 4,000-year-old model of a rowing boat featuring 16 figures.  

Egypt on display

Penn Museum opens a new Ancient Egypt exhibition to display artifacts and their conservation during its Building Transformation project.

Louisa Shepard

Blue pigment in 1,000-year-old teeth links women to the production of medieval manuscripts

Blue pigment in 1,000-year-old teeth links women to the production of medieval manuscripts

The Libraries’ Nicholas Herman offered commentary on a study that used bio-archaeology to identify ultramarine in the dental tartar of an 11th-century woman in rural Germany. “Only by looking very closely at new kinds of evidence can we begin to discover the true importance of female artisans,” said Herman.

State Department awards Penn $2 million to preserve cultural heritage in northern Iraq
A brown brick building in the background with gravestones and bushes in the foreground.

The cemetery of the Church of St. Thomas (above) in Mosul, Iraq, was badly damaged by Islamic State militants. The new grant awarded to the University of Pennsylvania will go toward stabilization and conservation of such culturally important sites.

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
A prehistoric city with homes, earthen mounds, and pathways

Archaeological evidence for solstice celebrations abounds in the ancient North American city of Cahokia, located in what is now Illinois. (Illustration: Steven Patricia/Art Institute of Chicago)

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.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Collective grief over loss from Brazil’s National Museum fire
Fire at the National Museum of Brazil, in Rio de Janeiro, on September 2, 2018. Photo by Felipe Milanez

Fire at the National Museum of Brazil, in Rio de Janeiro, on September 2, 2018. Photo by Felipe Milanez

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.

Michele W. Berger

See you later, sphinx
The Sphinx of Rameses II centered at a showroom of Penn Museum with people walking around and looking at the displays.

Visitors to the Penn Museum explore the Egypt Gallery and its centerpiece, the Sphinx of Rameses II, the sixth-largest granite sphinx in the world, and the largest in the Western Hemisphere. Photo by Lauren Hansen-Flaschen. 

Penn Museum

See you later, sphinx

The Penn Museum's 3,000-year-old sphinx of Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses II will be stored under wraps and out of public view for several years for gallery renovations, starting July 9th.

Louisa Shepard

Did serial killer H. H. Holmes fake his own death?
H. H. Holmes Penn Museum

Did serial killer H. H. Holmes fake his own death?

Biological archaeologists from the Penn Museum have helped resolve a lingering question about serial killer H. H. Holmes that has persisted since 1896: his final resting place.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Revealing Penn Museum’s Middle East treasures
Revealing Penn Museum’s Middle East treasures

From left: Penn curators and professors Holly Pittman and Stephen Tinney with Museum Director Julian Siggers at the April 16 press preview.

Revealing Penn Museum’s Middle East treasures

Objects that trace the path of human history—from the era of hunting and gathering to the creation of cities—are on display in the Museum’s new Middle East Galleries.

Louisa Shepard

When ancient technology and high-tech robots intersect
Stone Tool in Harold Dibble's Hand

Harold Dibble and his team research how humans might have made stone tools and flakes, from as far back as 2 million years ago to as recently as 10,000 years ago. 

When ancient technology and high-tech robots intersect

In one Penn lab, a stone-sculpting machine is helping archaeologists solve long-held mysteries of very old tools.

Michele W. Berger