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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

Penn Museum programming revamped
Bumpin' Uglies DJs at a Crawl Out Thursday party

Members of the Bumpin' Uglies DJ group pose for a photo at the inaugural “Crawl Out Thursday” event at Penn Museum. (Photo: Penn Museum)

Penn Museum programming revamped

With building renovations underway, the Penn Museum has freshened up its roster of fun things to do.
Unlocking the mystery of a 2,000-year-old child mummy

Unlocking the mystery of a 2,000-year-old child mummy

The Penn Museum, in collaboration with CHOP, conducted a CT scan on an Egyptian child mummy with hopes of learning more about the ancient remains. “She looks like she's the size of a 2-year-old, but her skeletal development, the growth of her teeth and bones, is more like a 5-year-old,” the Museum’s Samantha Cox said. “Maybe a type of dwarfism.”

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.

Michele W. Berger

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.