Teotihuacan: Rome of the Ancient Americas Penn Museum 2023-04-03 | Around 100 CE, a huge metropolis began to emerge in the Basin of Mexico, one the Aztecs would later call Teotihuacan, or “Birthplace of the Gods.” It quickly came to dominate the region, and, with its completely new urban grid-plan, contained as many as 150,000 people. Its two gigantic buildings, the Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon, were surrounded by smaller temples, plazas, and a thousand or more apartment compounds. They were all once richly painted in dazzling colors and complex designs depicting twisting feathered serpents, prowling jaguars, storm gods and water goddesses, priests, warriors, and lords. But its history has long been a mystery, and we are only now beginning to understand its importance and impact on ancient Mesoamerica.Speaker: Simon Martin, Associate Curator and Keeper in the American Section, Penn Museum and Adjunct Associate Professor Anthropology, UPenn
Marshland of Cities: Lagash and its Neighbors ca. 2500 BCE Penn Museum 2023-06-06 | Howard C. and Elizabeth Watts Petersen Annual LectureThe earliest cities in the world arose in a dynamic wetland environment at the intersection of the Tigris-Euphrates delta and the shore of the Persian Gulf during the 4th- and 3rd-millennia BCE. Recent work at the site of Lagash, led by the Penn Museum, in collaboration with the University of Pisa and Cambridge University, focuses on reconstructing the ancient environment of southern Iraq through remote sensing, geological coring, and excavation. This illustrated lecture will bring this formative chapter of human history to life through an overview of this work to date, including geological, ethnographic, and archaeological evidence.Speakers: Holly Pittman, Bok Family Professor in the Humanities; Professor, History of Art; Director, Lagash Archaeological Project and Curator, Near East Section, Penn Museum and Reed C Goodman, Ph.D. Candidate in the Art and Archaeology of the Mediterranean World.
Our Mountains Are Made By Hand: North American Mounds as World Heritage Penn Museum 2023-05-12 | A millennium ago, Native people constructed over 120 earthen mounds at the site of Cahokia, a World Heritage site in Illinois. Built entirely by hand, the largest of these constructions towered 100 feet over a city that was more densely populated than the contemporary medieval city of London. Over two thousand years before Cahokia’s construction, Native people in Louisiana built Poverty Point, another World Heritage site, and one of the only earthwork complexes that rivals Cahokia’s size and complexity--and they did so without agriculture or permanent settlements. These sites highlight the incredible engineering ability of ancient Americans, and remind us that we don’t need a passport to visit sites of outstanding universal value.Speaker: Megan C. Kassabaum, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, UPenn
Sand Mandala at Penn Museum Penn Museum 2023-04-12 | Losang Samten a Tibetan Buddhist monk creates a sand mandala in the galleries of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (Penn Museum) as his American assistant gives some explanation of what he is doing.From 04/29/1989
World Heritage in South Africas Cradle of Humankind Penn Museum 2023-02-11 | South Africa's Cradle of Humankind has long been a hotbed of discovery for human ancestor fossils. Just 45 minutes north of Johannesburg, this protected region must balance multiple interests in research, development, and human rights. This talk will discuss ongoing research and the efforts to continue to educate and engage the public, while emphasizing the need for continued protection.Speaker: George Leader, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania; Consulting Scholar, Mutter Research Institute, College of Physicians of Philadelphia; Honorary Research Associate, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
Becoming an UNESCO World Heritage Site Penn Museum 2023-01-07 | During the last 35 years Dr. C Brian Rose has had the good fortune to direct or co-direct excavations at two legendary sites in Turkey–-Troy and Gordion. Troy was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Site List in 1998; Gordion is being considered by UNESCO for World Heritage Status this year. Dr. Rose was involved in steering both sites through the UNESCO process. In this lecture, Dr. Rose will present the problems and unexpected detours we encountered, including a discussion of the extent to which regional, national, and global developments shaped the process.Speakers: C. Brian Rose, James B. Pritchard Professor of Archaeology, Curator-in-Charge, Mediterranean Section, University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology; Immediate Past President, Archaeological Institute of America; Trustee, American Academy in Rome
The Birthplace of the Buddha and Other Failures Penn Museum 2022-12-02 | This talk looks at five major Buddhist sites in Japan, Nepal, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, built over 2,500 years, that reveal a variety of strategies for memorializing Buddhist relics and historical moments. These massive projects range from museums to parks, from golden reliquaries to statues twice as tall as the Statue of Liberty. Looking at both the visionaries that planned these sites and the range of activities for Buddhist pilgrims and tourists, we will see the ways in which the Buddhist teachings of impermanence and non-attachment are negotiated and debated.Speakers: Justin McDaniel, Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Endowed Professor of the Humanities, Religious Studies UPenn
The Museum as a Revolutionary Icon Penn Museum 2022-07-01 | Museums have the power to respond to the present moment, exploring the contours of our humanity and revolutionizing our perspective on the world. From their earliest incarnations, museums have used their collections to bring resonance and context to the global community and our natural environment. Legendary educator and museum director John Cotton Dana once stated: "Find what aid the community needs and fit the museum to those needs”. Join us for a conversation about innovative activism that radically reimagines museums as socially responsive organizations who expand community care, uplift social justice, heighten curiosity, and speak to our shared future.Monica O. Montgomery believes museums must be in service to society! She is the newly minted Director of Community Engagement and Programs for Historic Germantown in Northwest Philadelphia, and previously served as Curator of Social Justice and Programming for the FUTURES exhibit celebrating the Smithsonian’s 175th Anniversary. She has curated exhibits with renowned organizations like the South African Embassy, Brooklyn Museum, Portland Art Museum, and the T. Thomas Fortune Cultural Center, and has worked as a consultant for museums and other institutions on DEI and community engagement. Additionally, Monica has taught graduate courses around museums, community engagement and social justice at American University, Georgetown University, Johns Hopkins University, Harvard University, Pratt Institute and NYU. She holds a B.A. in Broadcast Communication from Temple University and an M.A. in Corporate Communication from LaSalle University.
“Conquer or Die”: Boudica’s Revolt of 60-61 AD Penn Museum 2022-06-04 | Nearly twenty years after the Roman conquest of Britain a revolt broke out among the Iceni, a tribe inhabiting modern Norfolk. The revolt was led by Boudica, the warrior queen whose story has become the stuff of legend. In this lecture, we try to sort fact from fiction, investigating the seeds of rebellion in Rome’s abusive administration and then examining how the legend of Boudica has continued to grow and change over the centuries.About the SpeakerJeremy McInerney, Ph.D., is Davidson Kennedy Professor of Classical Studies and Chair of the Graduate Group in Ancient History at the University of Pennsylvania. Since 1992, he has taught both undergraduate and graduate level courses including Greek History, Demosthenes, the Greek World after Alexander, Religion and the Polis, Greek Epigraphy, Polybius, Greek Sanctuaries, and, most recently, the SNF Paideia designated course, Rhetoric and the Community.
Tribal Sovereignty and Indian Self-Determination Penn Museum 2022-05-27 | As a leader in the Native American rights movement, John Echohawk will discuss how the federal Indian policy terminating Indian tribes and forcing Indians to assimilate changed beginning in 1970 with the founding of the Native American Rights Fund and the advent of the new federal Indian policy of self-determination.About the SpeakerJohn Echohawk (Pawnee) is Executive Director of the Native American Rights Fund. He was the first graduate of the University of New Mexico’s special program to train Indian lawyers, and was a founding member of the American Indian Law Students Association while in law school. John has been with NARF since its inception in 1970, having served continuously as Executive Director since 1977. He has been recognized as one of the 100 most influential lawyers in America by the National Law Journal and has received numerous service awards and other recognition for his leadership in the Indian law field. John serves on the Boards of the American Indian Resources Institute, the Association on American Indian Affairs, the Indigenous Language Institute, Natural Resources Defense Council, and the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development. B.A., University of New Mexico (1967); J.D., University of New Mexico (1970); Reginald Heber Smith Fellow (1970-72); Native American Rights Fund (August 1970 to present); admitted to practice law in Colorado.
Octavian, Mark Antony, and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium Penn Museum 2022-04-03 | By the first century BCE, Rome had gained control of the entire Mediterranean, but those conquests had been accompanied by a century of civil war that witnessed the assassination of politicians on all sides of the political spectrum. At one point, the adherents of one populist politician marched on Rome's temple of Castor and Pollux, which was closely associated with the Senate, and tore up the temple steps. This period of nearly continuous warfare would not end until 31 BCE, when Julius Caesar’s nephew Octavian vanquished the combined forces of Mark Antony and the Egyptian queen Cleopatra at the battle of Actium in northwestern Greece. This talk reviews the events leading up to the conflict, the circumstances of the battle itself, and the relationship between Egypt and Rome thereafter.About the SpeakerC. Brian Rose, Ph.D.,is James B. Pritchard Professor of Mediterranean Archaeology and Peter C. Ferry Curator-in-Charge of the Mediterranean Section. Since 1988 he has been Head of Post-Bronze Age excavations at Troy, and between 2004-2007 he directed a survey project in the Granicus River Valley that focused on recording and mapping the Graeco-Persian tombs that dominate the area. In 2013, he became director of the Gordion Excavations in central Turkey, and in 2015 was elected President of the American Research Institute in Turkey. His research has concentrated on the political and artistic relationship between Rome and the provinces (Dynastic Commemoration and Imperial Portraiture in the Julio-Claudian Period, Cambridge, 1997), and on the monuments of Troy during the Classical periods (The Archaeology of Greek and Roman Troy, Cambridge, 2014).
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s Indian Revolution: Fighting Caste, Gender, Sexuality and Forging a New Womanhood Penn Museum 2022-03-02 | Dr. B.R. Ambedkar (1891-1956) was an important revolutionary political thinker, anti-caste activist, intellectual, architect of India’s constitution, and formidable leader of modern India. Ambedkar famously called for the annihilation of the hierarchical caste order to create a just society based on liberty, equality, and fraternity. His critique of caste was deeply connected with gender, sexuality, labor, and the new Dalit political. His thoughts are most significant in the present times of strengthening right-wing Hindu fundamentalism, rising caste-based gendered and sexual violence, increased lynching of Dalits and Muslims, and amidst a new resurging wave of Dalit and anti-caste politics.About the SpeakerShailaja Paik, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of History at the University of Cincinnati. Her research and teaching interests lie at the intersection of a number of fields: modern South Asia, Dalit studies, gender and women's studies, social and political movements, oral history, human rights, and humanitarianism. As a historian, she specializes in the social, intellectual, and cultural history of Modern India. Dr. Paik’s current research is funded by the American Council of Learned Societies Frederick Burkhardt Fellowship, StanfordHumanities Center, National Endowment for the Humanities: American Institute of Indian Studies Senior Long-term Fellowship, and a Taft Center Fellowship.
Narmer: The First King of Upper and Lower Egypt? Penn Museum 2022-02-05 | Narmer was a pivotal individual who lived during the development of Egypt’s state and its rise of kingship. His burial was likely at Abydos. A number of artifacts relating to him have survived from this period and they show increasing use of hieroglyphs, as well as the development of specific imagery and iconography that suggest royalty. In addition, material connected with him derives from several locations in Egypt, suggesting his increased importance and influence in many parts of the land. But was he the first to rule all of Egypt? Recent research on Narmer and the whole period of early kingship suggests a different picture of those involved with the development of kingship and the state in ancient Egypt.About the SpeakerDavid P. Silverman, Ph.D., is Eckley Brinton Coxe, Jr. Professor of Egyptology and Curator of Penn Museum's Egyptian Section, and one of the leading authorities on the civilization of ancient Egypt. Dr. Silverman was the national curator, advisor, and academic content creator for the blockbuster exhibition Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs. He was also responsible for the curatorial content in the original 1977 Treasures of Tutankhamun exhibit and served as Curator in Chicago at the Field Museum. His extensive publications include numerous books and articles on Egyptian language, art, and religion, and he has directed several field expeditions at sites throughout Egypt.
Emiliano Zapata From Many Angles Penn Museum 2022-01-01 | Emiliano Zapata, the Mexican revolutionary general, is known for his varied and passionate pursuit of justice. He famously drafted the Plan of Ayala (1911), which declared President Francisco I. Madero incapable of fulfilling the goals of the revolution and outlined agrarian reforms to distribute land in a fair and ethical manner. This lecture will address the political and cultural heritage, symbolic representation, and contemporary presence of Zapata throughout his life and up to the present day.About the SpeakerObed Arango, Founder and Executive Director of the Centro de Cultura, Arte, Trabajo y Educación (CCATE), is a Mexican journalist, anthropologist, visual artist, filmmaker, and lecturer in the School of Social Policy & Practice at UPenn. Former faculty of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and professor at Montgomery County Community College, in 2006 he created the radio program, Villa Inmigrante, which was broadcast on Mexico’s Radio Universidad de Guadalajara. From 1994-2001, he conducted an ethnography of Mexico City’s Central Square, with a particular focus on the Zapatista movement. In 2015, Obed was the recipient of the prestigious Dr. Orlando Costas Service Award from Eastern University. He was also Education Champion of the Year at the 2016 Hispanic Choice Awards. His current research focuses on the Villa Inmigrante in Norristown, PA.
MANSA MUSA: A Revolutionary view of Education & Wealth In 14th Century Mali Penn Museum 2021-12-03 | Around 1312 CE, Kankan Musa, Sundiata’s nephew, assumed the throne of Mali—one of the most important empires in West Africa long before the arrival of Europeans. He took the royal name Mansa Musa. It is during Musa’s reign that Mali reached a new high point. Follow Musa’s journey from his assumption of power to ruling the wealthiest nation of the 14th century. This lecture will include clips from Dr. Zuberi’s latest documentary on the life of Mansa Musa, Before Things Fell Apart, and reflections on his forthcoming book, Black Bodies in Word: Ciini Bibi.About the SpeakerTukufu Zuberi is the Lasry Family Professor of Race Relations and Professor of Sociology and Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He is dedicated to bringing a fresh view ofculture and society to the public through various platforms. Dr. Zuberi is the writer and producer for African Independence, an award-winning feature-length documentary film that highlights the birth, realization, and problems confronted by the movement to win independence in Africa. The story is told by channeling the voices of freedom fighters and leaders who achieved independence, liberty, and justice for African people. With this and other documentary film projects, Dr. Zuberi is dedicated to bringing a critical, creative vision not typically seen or heard to the big and small screen.
The Earliest Reformer? Urukagina of Girsu and His New Order Penn Museum 2021-11-09 | As society became more complex and cities developed in southern Mesopotamia (ancient Iraq) around 5000 years ago, the opportunities for abuse of power increased. The written record is largely silent on this topic for hundreds of years, except for an inscription written by a king of Girsu, whom we conventionally call Urukagina. This text, often called “Urukagina’s Reforms,” claims that Urukagina reversed the abuses of former times and offered new protections to the weak. In this talk, we take a deeper look at Urukagina and his times, and try to understand the motivations behind these reforms and who really benefitted from them.Stephen J. Tinney, Ph.D., is Clark Research Associate Professor of Assyriology, Deputy Director of the Penn Museum, Associate Curator of the Babylonian Section of the Penn Museum and director of the Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary Project. He holds a B.A. in Assyriology from Cambridge University, England, and a Ph.D. in Assyriology from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. His research interests include all aspects of Sumerian language, literature, and culture. Much of his current work is devoted to developing and publishing Sumerian texts and to analyzing and presenting the Sumerian language. This work is primarily focused on the creation of two major projects, the online Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary (ePSD), a project he began work on when he joined Penn in 1991 as a postdoctoral research assistant and which he now directs, and the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative based at UCLA.
Then and Now: Monuments, Memorials and Public Art Penn Museum 2021-08-07 | As symbols of collective memory, monuments and memorials have had very different meanings to those who erect them and those who inherit them. Complicated, controversial, and often confounding, public art is a tangible part of our public history and our evolving culture. With the onset of a powerful public awakening regarding what and whom we choose to honor, artists and public art are uniquely positioned to reflect and reveal our society and our times.Penny Balkin Bach is the Executive Director & Chief Curator of the Association for Public Art (aPA, formerly the Fairmount Park Art Association). A curator, writer, and educator who provides artistic direction for the organization, she is well-known for her work with artists and for her innovative approaches to connecting public art with its audiences. She supports the creation of opportunities for new works by artists and creative professionals, promotes the interpretation of art in public spaces, and advocates for the responsible stewardship of public art.
Building Monuments, Monumentalizing Buildings Penn Museum 2021-07-23 | What makes a building a monument? Some of the buildings that hold the most meaning for us, including Independence Hall, were not built to be monuments. What monumentalized them? And some of the most ambitious programs to build monuments, like Philadelphia’s City Hall, notably failed to capture contemporary attention. What went wrong? History offers important lessons for us today, as we strive to create monuments that reflect our values and aspirations.David Brownlee, Ph.D., Frances Shapiro-Weitzenhoffer Professor Emeritus, Penn History of Art, is a historian of modern architecture whose interests embrace a wide range of subjects in Europe and America, from the late 18th century to the present. Dr. Brownlee has won numerous fellowships, and his work has earned three major publication prizes from the Society of Architectural Historians. He is also a recipient of Penn's Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching. His film Philadelphia: Our Nation's First World Heritage City, produced and directed by Sam Katz, was made in 2016 to explain Philadelphia's new designation, for which he had worked. And in 2019 he worked with the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Institute of Architects to create a short film about the PSFS Building, winner of the "Fifty Year Timeless Award" from the AIA.
The War Memorials of Imperial Rome Penn Museum 2021-05-11 | Among the most characteristic features of ancient Rome are the war memorials that celebrated Roman victory throughout the Mediterranean, Europe, and the Middle East. Triumphal arches, monumental narrative columns, and large-scale battle paintings dominated the landscape of ancient Rome, as did war booty such as obelisks and Greek statuary that had been seized in conquered lands. All of these will be surveyed in this talk, along with war memorials of the 20th and 21st centuries that have been influenced by ancient Roman designs.C. Brian Rose, Ph.D. (B.A. Haverford College; M. A., Ph.D. Columbia University), is James B. Pritchard Professor of Mediterranean Archaeology and Peter C. Ferry Curator-in-Charge of the Mediterranean Section. Since 1988 he has been Head of Post-Bronze Age excavations at Troy, and between 2004 and 2007 he directed a survey project in the Granicus River Valley that focused on recording and mapping the Graeco-Persian tombs that dominate the area. In 2013 he became director of the Gordion Excavations in central Turkey. His research has concentrated on the political and artistic relationship between Rome and the provinces (Dynastic Commemoration and Imperial Portraiture in the Julio-Claudian Period, Cambridge, 1997), and on the monuments of Troy during the Classical periods (The Archaeology of Greek and Roman Troy, Cambridge, 2014).
Commemoration and Monument in Medieval India Penn Museum 2021-04-05 | What makes some kinds of objects, places, or symbols especially effective claims on history, heritage, and identity? Monuments were only one part of a larger set of features and practices associated with commemoration and memory in precolonial South Asia. Drawing on archaeology and landscape history, we can see how monumental spaces were built, used, and reused, providing clues to their both meanings and functions in past cultural worlds. This discussion sets the stage for a broader consideration of the practice and politics of heritage in medieval India. In partnership with the South Asia Center.Mark Lycett, Ph.D., is an historical anthropologist and the Director of Penn’s South Asia Center. Previously he taught at the University of Chicago, where he was Director of the Program on the Global Environment, Academic Director of Chicago's South Asian Abroad Program, and Director of the Center for International Studies. He has extensive research experience in western North America and South Asia, including the Vijayanagara Metropolitan Survey (1988–1997) and, more recently, work on landscape ecology, biodiversity, conservation, and the social lives of forests and forest products in peninsular India.
Slave Dwellings, Monuments, and the United Daughters of the Confederacy Penn Museum 2021-03-08 | The history of America can be told through the buildings we preserve and the monuments we raise. For decades, that history has been revisionist. This lecture examines how iconography bolsters White supremacy and privilege.Joseph McGill, Jr., is a history consultant for Magnolia Plantation in Charleston, SC, and the founder and director of The Slave Dwelling Project. Previously, as a field officer for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Mr. McGill worked to revitalize the Sweet Auburn commercial district in Atlanta, GA, and to develop a management plan for the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area. He is a former executive director of the African American Museum in Cedar Rapids, IA, and a former director of history and culture at Penn Center, St. Helena Island, SC. He has also served as a National Park Service park ranger at Fort Sumter National Monument in Charleston.
The Lasting Legacies of Mesopotamia: Ideas, Monuments, Images Penn Museum 2021-02-08 | Many of the fundamental cultural features of modern western societies have their origins in the civilizations of Mesopotamia, which flourished from 3000 to 323 BCE in the land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, now modern Iraq. This exploration will highlight aspects of this lasting legacy, with special reference to the collections on display in the Middle East Galleries.Holly Pittman, Ph.D., Curator in the Near East Section and Bok Family Professor in the Humanities, Penn History of Art, has excavated in Cyprus, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran. She has had primary publication responsibilities of the art, especially the glyptic art, from the sites of Malyan in the Fars province of Iran, Uruk-period Tell Brak, and Uruk-period Hacienbi Tepe. She co-curated the Museum’s Middle East Galleries as well as the traveling exhibition of the Treasures from the Royal Tombs of Ur. Her current research interests revolve around the excavations of the sites of Konar Sandal South and North in the region of Jiroft, in south-central Iran. Dr. Pittman has participated in two seasons of excavation of these two mounds and the exploration and survey of the region.
You Want a Confederate Monument? My Body Is a Confederate Monument Penn Museum 2021-01-11 | Monuments can be more than buildings or structures. Caroline Randall Williams—author of the powerful New York Times Opinion piece “You Want a Confederate Monument? My Body Is a Confederate Monument,” which grabbed international attention as a reckoning in the movement to dismantle systemic racism—joins us for this year's Annual Howard C. and Elizabeth Watts Petersen Lecture.Caroline Randall Williams is a catalyst. She makes change possible by bringing art and joy into the room in such a way that the grit of real challenge and limits may become eclipsed by analysis, innovation, and skill. She is an award-winning poet, young adult novelist, and cookbook author as well as an activist, public intellectual, performance artist, and scholar.
The Palace of Pharaoh Merenptah: Examining an Archaeological “Cold Case” Penn Museum 2020-12-03 | As part of his coronation ceremonies, Pharaoh Merenptah (reigned ca. 1213–1203 BCE) built a ceremonial palace complex at Egypt's political capital, Memphis. This building was excavated by Clarence Fisher for the Penn Museum between 1915 and 1920, but he never published his findings. Elements of this magnificent building brought back from Egypt by Fisher will form one of the centerpieces of the Penn Museum's upcoming Ancient Egypt and Nubia Galleries, currently being designed. This lecture will transport you to Egypt at the dawn of the Roaring 20s, as we examine archival documents and photographs in order to contextualize this great palace building and understand what it was and how it originally looked.Kevin Cahail, Ph.D., is the Collections Manager of the Egyptian Section. He received his B.A. in Classics and Classical Archaeology in 2003 from San Francisco State University, and his Ph.D. in Egyptology in 2014 from Penn. He has been a part of the Penn Museum's South Abydos Project since 2008, and his dissertation was the result of three field seasons excavating tombs of royal and non-royal individuals. In addition to his current work on the Palace of Merenptah, his research interests also include funerary archaeology of the Middle and New Kingdoms.
Topple: The Reckoning and Re-Imagining of Contemporary Monuments Penn Museum 2020-11-13 | As America in the throes of a historical reckoning over its monuments during its most volatile election year in memory, Farber explores how democracy lives and languishes through its sites of memory. By focusing on current and former monuments in Philadelphia, Richmond, and Washington D.C., these three capital cities (Colonial, Confederate, Federal) are read as frontlines for a collision course in the ways we write history in public and strive to connect symbols and systems of justice. Through this lecture, Farber aims to illuminate stories forecasting the next generation of monuments emerging through art, activism, and struggle today.Paul M. Farber, Ph.D., is Artistic Director and Co-Founder of the Philadelphia-based Monument Lab. He also serves as Senior Research Scholar at the Center for Public Art and Space at Penn’s Weitzman School of Design. Farber is the author of A Wall of Our Own: An American History of the Berlin Wall (University of North Carolina Press, 2020) and co-editor with Ken Lum of Monument Lab: Creative Speculations for Philadelphia (Temple University Press, 2020).
The Classic Maya Collapse: New Evidence on a Great Mystery Penn Museum 2020-10-27 | The Maya of the Classic Period 150–900 CE created one of the most dynamic and successful societies of the ancient Americas. Millions of people inhabited thousands of settlements, divided among more than a hundred kingdoms. By controlling water resources and terraforming the landscape they developed an agricultural system that supported a ruling class of king and, nobles, as well as strata of artists, architects, potters, merchants, and warriors. But at about 800 things began to go seriously wrong and within a century all their great cities were abandoned, never to be reoccupied. One of the great problems of world archaeology, this catastrophe has never lacked theories, what it lacked was hard facts pointing to an explanation. But today we might finally be close to understanding what happened and laying a mystery to rest.Simon Martin, Ph.D., Adjunct Associate Professor, Anthropology, Curator, American Section, Penn Museum
An Earthquake That Shook the World: Seismicity and Society in the Late Fourth Century CE Penn Museum 2020-10-27 | A concentration of late fourth- and early fifth-century sources seem to suggest that a massive earthquake shook the eastern Mediterranean in the second half of the fourth century CE, precipitating a tsunami that reached as far as Croatia, Northwestern Greece, Libya, and Egypt. This earthquake is conventionally dated to the morning of July 21, 365 CE. However, this neat picture of a single, universally-destructive event is open to question, for it is difficult to resolve the textual, archaeological, and geological evidence for seismological activity in the second half of the fourth century into a single, coherent picture. This Great Lecture uses that data, instead, to explore late Roman society’s ‘culture of risk’—its strategies for understanding, mitigating, and exploiting the manifold uncertainties of the physical and metaphysical world.Cam Grey, Department of Classical Studies, University of Pennsylvania
Great Catastrophes in Earth History Penn Museum 2020-03-20 | In human history we have witnessed impressive natural disasters. These mis-events pale in comparison with great events in earth history. Disasters may seem dire challenges to life on earth but ultimately, they proved to be great opportunities for new forms of life to evolve. We may not want to have shared our living space with dinosaurs.Peter Dodson, Ph.D., Professor of Anatomy, Labs of Anatomy, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine and Professor of Paleontology, Department of Earth and Environmental Science, School of Arts and Sciences University of Pennsylvania
The Great Flood and Its Aftermath Penn Museum 2020-03-20 | In the Great Flood of ancient Mesopotamian mythology, the gods cower from the storm as humanity teeters on the brink of extinction. What saves humanity? A subversive act: when the god of wisdom and magic tells a flood survivor to build an ark. While the Mesopotamian flood story sounds similar to one in the Bible or the Qur’an, they are quite distinct. This Great Lecture explores whether the Great Floods really happened; and recounts well-known and newly identified versions of the Mesopotamian flood, as well as related stories from other cultures.Dr. Stephen J. Tinney, Deputy Director, Chief Curator, and Head of Collections and Research
Overturning of Space and Time: The End of the Inca Empire Penn Museum 2020-03-18 | Explore the collapse of the Inca Empire- once the most powerful in the America- caused by civil unrest, European expansion, and disease.Clark L. Erickson, Ph.D., Professor of Anthropology, Curator, American Section, Penn Museum
Spit Spreads Death: The Influenza Pandemic of 1918–19 in Philadelphia Penn Museum 2020-03-13 | What happens when disease strikes a city of two million people, sickening half a million and killing more than 12,000 in just six weeks and 16,000 in two months? During fall 1918, in the last months of World War I, Philadelphia hosted the largest parade in its history. Within days, influenza casualties overwhelmed hospitals. In this illustrated presentation, Robert D. Hicks, Director of the Mütter Museum, discusses the pandemic as a social catastrophe and considers its memorialization today. He shares highlights of the museum’s most ambitious exhibition to date, Spit Spreads Death: The Influenza Pandemic of 1918-19 in Philadelphia, that opens during this for five years. Several relevant artifacts from the Mütter Museum will be on display at the lecture.Robert D. Hicks, Ph.D., Senior Consulting Scholar, Director, Mütter Museum/Historical Medical Library, William Maul Measey Chair for the History of Medicine of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia
The Destruction of Pompeii and Its Aftermath: Blacker and Denser Than Any Other Night Penn Museum 2020-03-13 | When Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE, it buried Pompeii, Herculaneum, and the surrounding settlements under nearly 20 feet of volcanic ash and pumice. Pliny the Elder, a Roman writer, documented his eyewitness account of the disaster, supporting the archaeological evidence uncovered there in the last two centuries. This Great Lecture reviews how these buried cities and their exploration have had a lasting impact on European and American culture.C. Brian Rose, Ph.D., Curator-in-Charge, Mediterranean Section, Penn Museum; Immediate Past President, Archaeological Institute of America; Trustee, American Academy in Rome
Whose Stuff is it, Anyway? Decolonization and the Role of Museums in Contemporary Society Penn Museum 2019-06-02 | Tukufu Zuberi, Lead Curator, upcoming Africa GalleriesTukufu Zuberi, Lead Curator, new Africa Galleries (opening Nov. 16, 2019) “Stuff” can be defined as a collection of belongings, ideas, expertise, and much more. As part of the “Great Stuff” lecture series, Dr. Tukufu Zuberi discusses the impact of the European colonial mentality in the collection of African art and crafts. His talk will challenge ideas about colonialism, explaining how social movements that transformed Africa’s relationship to the world were often overlooked.
The Stuff of Archaeology: An Introduction Penn Museum 2019-05-03 | Lauren Ristvet, Dyson Associate Curator, Near East SectionCities. Buildings. Graves. Pottery. Animal Bones. Pollen. DNA. Oxygen molecules. The stuff of archaeology is changing rapidly, as are the questions we can ask and answer. How do archaeologists reconstruct past civilizations and ways of life? What new information can we expect in the future? Join Dr. Lauren Ristvet for an exploration of the new frontiers of the stuff of archaeology.
Expedition - Anubis: Jackal in a Gods Clothing Penn Museum 2019-04-17 | Many of us draw connections between ancient Egyptians and the worship of cats. In this video, Dr. Jennifer Wegner tells us about the importance of dogs in ancient Egypt and the role they played in everyday life and religion. A relative of the dog, the jackal, appears in Egyptian religion as overseers of the dead and some dogs have been found to be buried alongside their owners. Please note that this video contains photos and video of human remains.
The Stuff of Legend: Late 19th century Excavations at Nippur Penn Museum 2019-04-06 | Richard Zettler, Ph.D., Associate Curator-in-Charge, Near East Section British and French excavations in Mesopotamia—the land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, what is today Iraq—began in the 1840s. Americans followed, but decades later. Excavations at the site of Nippur, early Mesopotamia’s religious center, on the southern floodplain of the two rivers, represent America’s first great archaeological adventure in the Middle East. The excavations, supported by prominent Philadelphians organized as the Babylonian Exploration Fund and affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania, led to the founding of the University’s Museum. In this lecture, Dr. Richard Zettler tells the saga of John P. Peters, Episcopal clergyman from New York City and the first Professor of Hebrew at the University of Pennsylvania, who lobbied determinedly to initiate excavations in the Land of the Bible; Edward White Clark, Philadelphia financier; and William Pepper, Jr., Penn’s Provost, who helped Peters realize his dream. The talk details the results of the excavations that extended from 1889-1900, introducing in the process the cast of characters that made the excavations reality, including photographer John Henry Haynes, architects Joseph E. Meyer, Clarence Fisher and H. Valentine Geer, and Assyriologist Herman V. Hilprecht, with whom Peters had a bitter “battle” in the years following the excavations.
The Stuff of Life: Animal Remains Penn Museum 2019-03-06 | Katherine Moore, Mainwaring Teaching Specialist, ZooarchaeologyAnimal “stuff” in the Museum includes bones of animals dedicated as offerings, animal parts discarded as food, and animal parts made into ornaments and game pieces. Some of the oldest materials in the Museum are animal bones; hundreds of modern skeletons live in the CAAM labs at the Penn Museum. When archaeologists find bones, those bones can reveal the relationships that people have had with animals in ancient times. In this lecture, zooarchaeologist Katherine Moore will tell some of the most unexpected animal stories she has reconstructed while working on Penn Museum collections.
A Home for our Stuff: Building the Penn Museum Penn Museum 2019-02-02 | Ann Brownlee, Associate Curator, Mediterranean SectionThe Penn Museum has been collecting "Great Stuff" for 130 years, and, from the start it has created Great Architecture to showcase its rich collections and to reflect rapidly changing thinking about object display. The story begins in the 1890s, when the Museum turned to a talented team of Philadelphia's young "Queen Anne" superstars-- Wilson Eyre, Frank Miles Day, Walter Cope, and John Stewardson--to create a master plan and begin construction of a vast new building that could never be filled and was never finished.
Sherd Nerds! Penn Museum 2019-01-25 | In the Penn Museum’s new series Dig In! we follow our host, Tom Stanley, as he discovers strange archeological facts and quirky stories from the Museum. Today’s episode is all about SHERDS! Resident Sherd Nerd, Dr. Megan Kassbaum, tells us what they are and why they matter, including some fun sherd facts you can use to impress your friends (or your professors!). Plus, you’ll learn a peculiar trick to tell the difference between sherds, rocks, and animal bones. Also - wine! After this, you’ll never look at sherds in the same way.
The Stuff You Do Not See: Conservation for a Renovated Museum Penn Museum 2019-01-05 | Lynn Grant, Head ConservatorIn the Summer of 2018, the Lower Egyptian (Sphinx) Gallery was closed to the public. Why? What’s been happening with all the stuff in there since then? Head Conservator Lynn Grant will talk about the monumental – in every sense of the word – task of conserving the large architectural pieces for installation in the renewed Egyptian Galleries. See what’s been holding up the Sphinx for the last 92 years and learn how we’ll be dealing with the objects too large to leave the building.
Protecting Stuff Today: Cultural Heritage Sites and the Penn Museum Penn Museum 2018-12-10 | Brian I. Daniels, Director of Research and Programs, Penn Cultural Heritage CenterAll around the world, cultural heritage sites seem to be at great risk from conflict or other disasters. Due to recent cultural destruction in the Middle East and North Africa, there is perhaps more attention than ever before about the phenomenon of cultural loss. Recent examples are notorious. The Bamiyan Buddhas in 2001. The Al-Askari Shrine in 2006. The libraries of Timbuktu in 2012. The Umayyad Mosque of Aleppo in 2013. The ruins of Nimrud in 2014. The ancient city of Palmyra in 2015. But not all losses are conflict-related. Fire destroyed the acclaimed National Museum of Brazil in 2018. How do we protect stuff from hazards? What can be done to ensure that cultural heritage is protected for the future? The Penn Museum is at the forefront of safeguarding cultural heritage in these situations, and Dr. Daniels will discuss its role and preservation successes.
Expedition - Domitians Rule Penn Museum 2018-11-07 | There have been many tyrants throughout history. Among them, Roman Emperor Domitian, whose reign ended when he was assassinated in 96 A.D. In this edition of Expedition, Dr. Brian Rose tells us about Domitian's time as ruler and how, after his death, the Roman Empire attempted to erase him from history.
Director’s Highlights of the Penn Museum Collection Penn Museum 2018-11-02 | Julian Siggers, Williams Director Penn MuseumThe Penn Museum stewards nearly one million artifacts from around the world—in other words, the Museum has great stuff, and a lot of it. Williams Director Julian Siggers will explore some of his favorite objects from the Museum’s galleries and storage.
Whats On? Global Guide Tours Penn Museum 2018-10-23 | The Penn Museum’s artifacts are full of stories from cultures around the world. What better way to learn about the culture and history of another place than to speak to someone who grew up there? These objects come alive through the perspectives of contemporary people living in those places today. In this video, we meet Hadi Al-Karfawi , Yaroub Al-Obaidi, and Moumena Saradar, the Penn Museum Global Guides. They lead tours of the Middle East Galleries to share historical information about the objects on display, in addition to personal stories that help connect to their countries of origin, Iraq and Syria. Visitors can transcend time and place through the authentic experiences shared on these tours. To schedule a tour with a Global Guide or follow a public Global Guide tour, view https://www.penn.museum/visit/tours/global-guides.The Global Guides Tour Program was made possible by a generous grant from the Barra Foundation and in collaboration with HIAS Pennsylvania and the Nationality Services Center.
When Science Met Race Penn Museum 2018-08-03 | Tapping into the class interactions and the assembled University of Pennsylvania and outside experts, Penn’s CAMRA media program developed and filmed an accompanying documentary using the class content, designed for middle school audiences and older.Please be advised that this film includes images of human remains.This short film includes interviews with panelists and audience members as well as discussion highlights from each of the Science and Race: History, Use, and Abuse classes.Directed by: Dr. Arjun Shanker, Andrew Hudson, Melissa Skolnick, Ore Badaki.
Whats On? Great Death Pit of Ur Penn Museum 2018-07-25 | In this new series, What's On?, experts from the Penn Museum will tell you all about the new research, discoveries, and untold stories from the artifacts on display in the Museum galleries.Kicking off the series is the story of the Great Death Pit of Ur. Among the sites in the Royal Cemetery at Ur, The Great Death Pit has remained a mystery. Who did this large burial site belong too? New research from Richard Zettler, Ph.D. and Aubrey Baadsgaard, Ph.D. has provided some theories about who might have been buried there.
Director’s Town Hall: Building Transformation Penn Museum 2018-07-16 | Skip introduction: 6:50Members were invited to an exclusive, town-hall conversation with Dr. Julian Siggers, Williams Director, to explore the vision and plans of the Museum's Building Transformation project. Over the next several years, this effort will result in the renovation and reimagination of 75% of the Museum's galleries, plus the improvement of key visitor amenities, including accessibility, wayfinding, and temperature-control features. Speakers: Julian Siggers, Ph.D. Williams Director and Stephen J. Tinney, Ph.D. Deputy Director and Chief CuratorPresentation: June 17, 2018
Philadelphia: Colonial City to Modern Metropolis Penn Museum 2018-07-06 | Jeffrey Ray, former Senior Curator of the Philadelphia History Museum, talks about the history and development of Philadelphia from its founding through the 1930s. He currently teaches at the University of the Arts, Drexel University, and St. Joseph’s University.
Expedition - Powerful Women of Ur Penn Museum 2018-06-19 | In ancient Mesopotamia, women filled many roles that brought strength to their communities. Among these women were a few in the city of Ur, who held powerful positions as rulers and religious leaders. Watch as Penn Museum experts, William B. Hafford, Ph.D. and Jane Hickman, Ph.D. bring to light the stories of Queen Puabi and the Entu Priestesses.
Philadelphia Panel Discussion of Culture Track ‘17 Penn Museum 2018-06-13 | Philadelphia cultural leaders discuss the findings of the nation’s largest tracking study of cultural audiences, Culture Track, created by NYC-based marketing firm, LaPlaca Cohen. The event was hosted by the Penn Museum and supported by The Pew Center for Arts and Heritage. Moderated by Stephanie Renee, Host, “The Source” & Digital Coordinator, WURD Radio 96.1 FM & 900 AM. Presented on March 19, 2018.Panelists:Ryan Lewis, Vice President of Marketing, Opera PhiladelphiaYoungmoo Kim, Director, ExCITe Center; Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering at Drexel University Patricia Wilson Aden, President & CEO, African American Museum in PhiladelphiaRobert Blackson, Director of Exhibitions and Public Programs, Temple Contemporary at Tyler School of Art, Temple University
