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Penn Museum's Online Exhibitions
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Amarna: Ancient Egypt's Place in the Sun
November 12, 2006 - October 2007
Tutankhamun, ancient Egypt's most famous pharaoh (ca. 1332 to 1322 BCE), grew up in the royal court at Akhetaten (modern Tell el-Amarna). This royal city, located in a previously uninhabited stretch of desert, existed only a short time. It hardly survived the death of its founder, Akhenaten, Tutankhamun’s probable father, who introduced the belief in a single deity, the disk of the sun, called the Aten. The Egyptians abandoned both the new religion and the new city, and Tutankhamun led his people back to the traditional beliefs.
The University of Pennsylvania Museum has a considerable collection of artifacts from this significant period, including many from 1920s excavations of Amarna. Now it has formed a special exhibition with more than 100 artifacts, including elegant statues of King Tutankhamun; a rare monumental stela proclaiming the universal power of the Aten; reliefs, jewelry and other personal items owned by the royal family; materials from Amarna craft workshops--even amulets of censored gods and goddesses, undoubtedly still secretly revered by their owners. These items serve to tell the story of the rise, and fall, of this unique royal city, the role of heretic Pharaoh Akhenaten in a generation of religious change, and the part that young Tutankhamun played in its rapid reversal. Penn Museum Egyptologists Josef Wegner, Associate Curator and Jennifer Houser Wegner, Research Scientist co-curated the exhibition along with Eckley B. Coxe, Jr. Curator David Silverman, national curator of the traveling exhibition from Egypt, Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs.
In addition to the special exhibition, Penn Museum’s renowned Upper and Lower Egyptian galleries offer visitors an opportunity to view a wide variety of ancient Egyptian artifacts, from monumental architecture to sculptures, pottery, jewelry and tomb goods, and mummies.
Visit the website-->
From Penn Museum Publications:
 Akhenaten & Tutankhamun:
Revolution & Restoration
by David P. Silverman, Josef W. Wegner, and Jennifer Houser Wegner
200 pp., 140 full-color images, hardcover
ISBN 1-931707-90-1
$24.95
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Treasures from the Royal Tombs of Ur
Penn Museum's nationally traveling exhibition features more than 200 ancient Sumerian treasures from the site of Ur in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq). Visitors can see what art critic and former Metropolitan Museum of Art Director Thomas Hoving has called "the finest, most resplendent and magical works of art in all of America" (artnet.com): the Ram-Caught-in-the-Thicket, Lady Puabi's lapis lazuli and carnelian jewelry, an electrum drinking tumbler, and a gold ostrich egg-as well as Lady Puabi's headdress, a silver bull's head, and other treasures, large and small-from this world famous, 4500-year-old Sumerian collection.
The extraordinary objects of Mesopotamian art and culture were uncovered in the late 1920s by renowned British archaeologist C. Leonard Woolley in a joint expedition by the British Museum and the University of Pennsylvania Museum. The royal tombs at Ur opened the world's eyes to the full glory of ancient Sumerian culture (2600-2500 B.C.) at its zenith. At the time, the Ur excavations competed only with Howard Carter's discovery of the intact tomb of the boy pharaoh, Tutankhamen, for public attention. By the end of the excavation in 1934 Woolley had become, as The Illustrated London News termed him, a "famous archaeologist," and in little more than a year he was awarded knighthood.
"With continuing American involvement in Iraq and the region, public awareness and interest in Mesopotamia and UPM's remarkable Ur material has expanded," noted Dr. Richard Zettler, Associate Curator-in-charge in the Museum's Near East Section and co-curator of the traveling Ur exhibition. "We wanted UPM's visitors to be able to see and consider this important material while Iraq's endangered cultural heritage, and in fact the endangered cultural heritage of so many peoples today, is so much in the headlines."
Visit the Treasures from the Royal Tombs of Ur website-->
From Penn Museum Publications:
 Treasures from the Royal Tombs of Ur
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Mythic
Visions: Yarn Paintings of a Huichol Shaman
Mythic
Visions, which was on display from November 8, 2003 to May
29, 2004, featured 31 yarn paintings by shaman-artist José
Benítez Sánchez, considered the leading Huichol
artist using this medium. Benítez' fame comes from his
unique ability to translate his ephemeral visions into a two-dimensional
art form. It is the otherworldly visions, triggered by the use
of the sacred peyote cactus, which inspires shaman-artists like
Benítez to "paint in yarn." Despite the fact
that peyote is not native to the Huichol heartland, it is essential
to Huichol spirituality and cultural survival. Each year, small
parties of Huichols make a 300-mile pilgrimage to a desert in
the State of San Luis Potosi to gather visionary peyote.
From Penn Museum Publications:
 Visions of a Huichol Shaman
by Peter T. Furst
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Glassmaking
in Roman Times
This
website explores several aspects of the history of glassworking
throughout the six centuries of Roman domination of the Mediterranean
world. Woven into this story is the place of glassware in everyday
life, from the lady-of-the-house's cosmetic preparations each
morning to the setting of the table for the evening meal. Glassware's
use for storage of foodstuffs, wine, and perfumes among the furnishings
of a Roman burial is also discussed.
From Penn Museum Publications:
 Roman Glass
Reflections of Everyday Life
Stuart Fleming
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Celebrity Eyes in a Museum Storeroom What
happens when 22 celebrities pick their favorite objects from the
darkness of the Museum's storerooms and bring them into the light
of day? See "Six
Degrees of Kevin Bacon"
in action, with candid photos of the celebrities and commentaries,
in their own words, about their selections. |
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Modern Mongolia: Reclaiming Genghis Khan
The
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology,
in cooperation with the National Museum of Mongolian History,
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, presents an all-new exhibition, Modern
Mongolia: Reclaiming Genghis Khan, which challenges our view of
Genghis Khan. Modern Mongolia: Reclaiming Genghis Khan,
October 20, 2001 to July 2002, at the University of Pennsylvania
Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Philadelphia. The online
exhibit features the rich culture of Mongolia's past and present.
From Penn Museum Publications:
 Modern Mongolia
Reclaiming Genghis Khan
by Paula L. W. Sabloff
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The
Ancient Greek World Based
on the Museum's permanent exhibit by the same name, this virtual
exhibit uses artifacts to provide a vivid picture of all aspects
of life in ancient Greece, including life in the home, warfare,
religion and trade.
From Penn Museum Publications:
 The Ancient Greek World
The Rodney S. Young Gallery
by Donald White , Keith DeVries, David Gilman Romano, Irene Bald Romano, and Yelena Stolyarik
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Architectural
Archaeology: A Centennial View of the Museum Buildings Using
photographs from the Museum's Archives, this exhibit conducts
an archaeological investigation of the Museum building. Use an
interactive timeline to see how the building grew, and how changing
architectural tastes brought it full circle, from the Victorian
revivalism and eclecticism of its first architects to the post-Modern
present. An Expedition
Magazine special! |
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The
Black Sea Trade Project: An archaeologist's Online Journal Take
a virtual expedition! Follow the daily log of archaeological fieldwork
as it happened during July, 1998 in the Turkish city of Sinop. With photos and personal eye-witness
accounts, you'll be looking over the shoulders of archaeologists
in the field, viewing new archaeological evidence as well as some
of the local inhabitants. This may be the closest you'll ever
get to go on a dig! |
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Bodies
of Cultures: A World Tour of Body Modification Whatever
their reasons, people around the world have been piercing, tattooing,
and painting their bodies for ages. There's excellent evidence
of this in the galleries of the University of Pennsylvania Museum,
some of it dating as far back as the 9th century B.C. Body modification
and what it means is personal and cultural. What does it mean
to you? |
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Canaan
and Ancient Israel While
many are familiar with the ancient Canaanites and Israelite peoples
through stories from the Old Testament of the Bible, this exhibit
explores the identities of these peoples in pre-historical times
through the material remains that they have left behind. An excellent
website for teachers and students. Includes glossary, bibliography,
classroom activities, and links. |
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Conservation
of the "Ram in the Thicket" The so-called "Ram" (actually a goat) has long been the subject
of curiosity by museum-goers and scholars. What is it? How was
it constructed? How did the excavator, Sir Leonard Woolley, piece
it together after it had been crushed under the weight of the
earth for thousands of years? Some of these questions were answered
as the "Ram" underwent new conservation work, almost 70 years
after its initial discovery and reconstruction. |
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The
Corinth Computer Project A first-of-its-kind educational website that digitally reveals
the ancient Roman city of Corinth, Greece. Incorporating historical,
literary and archaeological data, it features a 3D
fly-through of Corinth,
a Quicktime
movie of the Roman forum,
interactive stone for stone archaeological plans, digital maps, 3D
models,
site photographs, satellite images, interactive GIS data and literary
texts. Suitable for K-12, college, scholars and the layman. Watch
for regular updates and additions. |
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"Daily
Life in Sierra Leone: The Sherbro in 1936-37" These
archival photographs record the first Museum-sponsored expedition
to sub-Saharan Africa, led Henry Usher Hall, Curator of General
Ethnology. Between 1936-37, he spent seven months conducting ethnographic
research among the Sherbro peoples of Sierra Leone and collected
many artifacts that are today considered to be one of the Penn Museum's
major ethnographic collections. |
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Eggi's
Village: Life Among the Minangkabau of Indonesia University
of Pennsylvania anthropologist Peggy Reeves Sanday studies
village life in a province in West Sumatra, Indonesia. She develops
strong personal bonds with one village family, who name their
daughter "Eggi" after her. As Eggi grows up, the story of Minangkabau
village life unfolds. |
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Egypt:
A New Look at an Ancient Culture What are hieroglyphs? what was the role of a pharaoh? who were
the gods and goddesses the ancient egyptians worshipped? what
was life like for the average Egyptian citizen? See Egypt through
new eyes! |
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The
Funerary Feast of King Midas Fifty
years ago, the University of Pennsylvania Museum began excavations
at the ancient Phrygian capital of Gordion in central Turkey. Within six years, the expedition had made one
of the most spectacular archaeological discoveries of the 20th
century -- the tomb of Gordion's most famous son, King Midas. Follow Museum researchers as they
discover what the mourners ate and drank at his funerary feast.. |
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The Origins and Ancient History of Wine How Museum excavators uncovered the world's oldest wine jar and
Museum scientists determined its contents. Find out why the grape
remains ever popular -- cloned over and over again from its
ancient beginnings. |
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Plains
Indian Medicine The
current health belief systems of Plains Indians reflect a blending
of American Indian traditions with modern Western practice. Find
out how these groups incorporate healing practices from the past
with those of the present. |
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The
Real Story of the Ancient Olympic Games
[A USAToday HotSite!]Were
the ancient games better than ours? More fair and square? More
about sports and less about money? Are modern games more sexist?
More political? Have we strayed from the ancient Olympic ideal?
Read on and decide for yourself. Take the Q/A surveys and tell
us where you stand on the issues. |
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The
Return of a Stolen Cultural Treasure to Peru An
exhibition of a Moche gold artifact that had been looted from
a tomb at Sipan and, after circulating through a complex network
of international smuggling, finally ended up for sale in Philadelphia! |
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Sailing
the Ocean Without Map or Compass: Traditional Navigation in the
Western Pacific The
navigation system used in the central Caroline Islands makes no
use of either compasses or charts, but relies on stars and on
memorizing huge amounts of information. This provides a fascinating
picture of how one culture handles knowledge. |
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Sex
Life of the Date Dr.
Naomi F. Miller, archaeobotanist at the Museum, recently exposed
some hidden aspects of an ancient artifact, using her knowledge
about Mesopotamia, along with a hunch or two about birds and bees
and dates... |
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Sitio Conte, Panama, 1940 Providing unique, online access to original documentation, the
Museum Archives has digitized J. Alden Mason's field notes from his excavations
to Sitio Conte, Panama in 1940. "You get a great kick out of finding
gold. Give it a wipe or a little scrape and it's as beautiful
as it ever was..." --J. Alden Mason, 1940 |
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