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The story the bowls tell
penn museum incantation bowl being examined

Gross and Elitzur-Leiman are studying some intact, pristine bowls and others, like the one above, that are in pieces. “The sherds tell a story, too,” says Blanchard.

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
A map of the Pacific Ocean. Australia is in the bottom-left corner, with Indonesia and New Guinea to the north. Also pinpointed are Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia, with arrows signifying five migration paths designated M1, M2, M3, M4, and M5. M1, M2, and M4 originate in East Asia. M3 originates around New Guinea, and M5 originates between Polynesia and Melanesia.

Map of five inferred streams of migration into Micronesia. (Image: Liu et al., 2022, “Ancient DNA reveals five streams of migration into Micronesia and matrilocality in early Pacific seafarers,” Science, Vol 377, Issue 6601, pp. 72-79, DOI: 10.1126/science.abm6536)

  • Q&A

    • 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

    Following the trail of Elizabeth Thomas, fossil hunter
    Person standing in a large green field.

    (Homepage photo) Locals advised Sabel and Pentecost-Farren (seen here) to look in this field between Hampnett and Northleach, where the pair found several fossilized sea urchins.

    Following the trail of Elizabeth Thomas, fossil hunter

    Claire Conklin Sabel, a doctoral student in Penn’s History and Sociology of Science department, uncovers the findings of 18th-century amateur naturalist Elizabeth Thomas, along with illustrator Alix Pentecost-Farren, who brings Thomas’ work to life.

    Kristina García

    Regular folks in the Roman Empire
    Kim Bowes and the cover of her book The Roman Peasant Project 2009-2014 with an illustration of a small wooden house in the country with a tree

    Kimberly Bowes, archaeologist, classical studies professor, and director of the Integrated Studies Program, focuses not on the elite during the Roman Empire, but on the lived experience of the working poor and the economies that dominated their lives. Bowes has received both a Guggenheim Fellowship and a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship to expand her research.

  • Q&A

    • Regular folks in the Roman Empire

    Kimberly Bowes of the School of Arts & Sciences focuses on the lived experience of the Roman Empire’s working poor and the economies that dominated their lives 2,00 years ago.
    Four Penn faculty awarded Guggenheim Fellowships
    four faculty faces

    Four Penn faculty have been awarded a 2022 Guggenheim Fellowship. They are (left to right, top to bottom) Daniel Barber in architecture in the Weitzman School of Design and Kimberly Bowes in classical studies, Guthrie Ramsey in music, and Paul Saint-Amour in English, all in the School of Arts & Sciences.

    Four Penn faculty awarded Guggenheim Fellowships

    Four faculty have been named 2022 Guggenheim Fellows—Daniel Barber in architecture in the Weitzman School of Design and Kimberly Bowes in classical studies, Guthrie Ramsey in music, and Paul Saint-Amour in English in the School of Arts & Sciences.
    Keepers of the cultural memory
    An old and large book upside down on a table, being held by two sets of hands, one gloved, the other not. There are boxes and other materials all around.

    Workers at the rare manuscripts and old printed books department of the Andrey Sheptytsky National Museum store them in cardboard boxes to reduce the risk of damage in the event of an attack in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, Friday, March 4, 2022. (Image: AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

    AP Photo/Bernat Armangue

    Keepers of the cultural memory

    In wartime, saving human lives is a top priority. But secondary considerations often include preserving the cultural heritage also under siege. Penn experts offer their thoughts as the situation in Ukraine continues to unfold.

    Michele W. Berger

    Christopher Woods on his first year as director of the Penn Museum
    Person standing in front of a sphinx in a museum

    One year in, Penn Museum Director Christopher Woods has  continued to lead the massive transformation of the 135-year-old institution’s building while reevaluating the collection, expanding the staff, strengthening community engagement, and addressing sensitive issues through new policies.

    Christopher Woods on his first year as director of the Penn Museum

    Penn Museum Director Christopher Woods leads the massive transformation of the 135-year-old institution’s building while reevaluating the collection, expanding the staff and community engagement, and addressing sensitive issues through new policies.
    From 2,800-year-old charred food lumps, a window into past civilizations
    Kathy Morrison sitting at a computer in a lab, gesturing to grad student Moriah McKenna. They both wear white lab coats. In front of them is a computer screen with what looks like a large rock. Next to the computer is a large microscope with its light on.

    Archaeologist Kathleen Morrison (center) and anthropology doctoral student Moriah McKenna discuss one of the charred lumps from a 2010 excavation in southern India. The image is possible thanks to a new microscope, seen here on the right, that takes and stitches together high-resolution images in incredible detail. (Image: Eric Sucar)

  • Q&A

    • From 2,800-year-old charred food lumps, a window into past civilizations

    At a site in southern India, archaeologist Kathleen Morrison and colleagues discovered the remains of two types of dough, offering insights into how the region’s dietary practices have evolved.

    Michele W. Berger