2015–2016 Annual Report

347

EXECUTIVE MESSAGE THE NEW PENN MUSEUM YEAR IN REVIEW

88

PENN MUSEUM 2015–2016: BY THE GEOGRAPHY

Teaching & Research: Penn Museum-Sponsored Field Projects

10 Excavations at Anubis-Mountain, South Abydos (Egypt) 12 Gordion Archaeological Project (Turkey)
— Historical Landscape Preservation at Gordion — Gordion Cultural Heritage Education Project
16 The Penn Cultural Heritage Center
— Conﬂict Culture Research Network (Global) — Safeguarding the Heritage of Syria & Iraq Project (Syria and Iraq) — Tihosuco Heritage Preservation & Community Development Project (Mexico) — Wayka Heritage Project (California, USA)
20 Pelekita Cave in Eastern Crete (Greece) 21 Late Pleistocene Pyrotechnology (France) 22 The Life & Times of Emma Allison (Canada) 23 On the Wampum Trail (North America) 24 Louis Shotridge & the Penn Museum (Alaska, USA) 25 Smith Creek Archaeological Project (Mississippi, USA) 26 Silver Reef Project (Utah, USA) 26 South Jersey (Vineland) Project (New Jersey, USA)

27 Collections: New Acquisitions 31 Collections: Outgoing Loans & Traveling Exhibitions

35 PENN MUSEUM 2015–2016: BY THE NUMBERS 40 PENN MUSEUM 2015–2016: BY THE MONTH

57 SUPPORTING THE MISSION

58 Leadership Supporters 62 Loren Eiseley Society 64 Expedition Circle 66 The Annual Fund 67 Sara Yorke Stevenson Legacy Circle 68 Corporate, Foundation, & Government Agency Supporters

71 THE GIFT OF TIME

Objects on the cover, inside cover, and above were featured

in the special exhibition The Golden Age of King Midas, from

February 13, 2016 through November 27, 2016.

72 Exhibition Advisors & Contributors 74 Penn Museum Volunteers 76 Board of Overseers

On the cover: Bronze cauldron with siren and demon attachments. Museum of Anatolian Civilizations 18516.

77 Director’s Council 77 Penn Museum Advisory Board 78 Women’s Committee

Above: Black Polished Goat Jug from Gordion. Museum of Anatolian Civilizations 12789.

78 Young Friends of the Penn Museum 79 In Memoriam

More information on these objects and the exhibition can be found at www.penn.museum/exhibitions/past-exhibitions. All photos by the Penn Museum unless otherwise noted.

80 Curatorial Sections & Museum Centers 82 Penn Museum Department Staﬀ

Executive Message

THE OBJECTS IN OUR COLLECTION REPRESENT a huge swath of

human history; some of them are more than 10,000 years old. But our knowledge of these objects and their contexts—and the ways we showcase them for the public—are ever-changing, and

2015–2016 was a remarkable year of ﬁrsts for the Penn Museum.

We are proud to add continually to the Museum’s reputation and

to report highlights in teaching and public engagement.

Our special exhibition The Golden Age of King Midas, curated

by Dr. Brian Rose, opened in February 2016, featuring more

than 120 magnificent objects on loan from the Republic of Turkey, many of which have never before been displayed

in North America. The exhibition also showcased Penn’s 65

remarkable years of excavations at Gordion, Turkey, continuing

as recently as this summer (see page 12), under Brian’s direction.

The opening of Midas was marked with the Museum’s first gala

in recent years, celebrating this world exclusive exhibition.

Three hundred guests, in gold or golden-accented dress, per

the invitation’s instruction “black tie with the Midas touch,”

made for a glittering scene in our iconic Rotunda. Midas was not the only exhibition to showcase the research

and artifacts that make the Museum unique. Sacred Writings:

Extraordinary T e xts of the Biblical World commemorated the first

visit to Philadelphia by Pope Francis and the World Meeting of Families with a display of rare early texts from the Museum’s

collections and the Penn Libraries, including the earliest version

of the Mesopotamian flood story, written on a clay tablet from

nearly 3,500 years ago. Sex: A History in 30 Objects explored the

theme of the 2015–2016 Penn Humanities Forum on Sex through

a survey of the Museum’s collections. Magic in the Ancient World,

informed by a curatorial seminar led by curators Grant Frame

and Robert Osterhout and continuing through May 2017, surveys

ancient magical thinking through 81 magical objects from Egypt,

Mesopotamia, Greece, and Rome. And Kourion at the Crossroads:

Exploring Ancient Cyprus was our second exhibition led by a

student curatorial team.
5,400 7th-grade students from 97 local schools, including 436 students in 54 Autistic Support/Life Skills Support classrooms.

We are deeply grateful to the GRoW Annenberg Foundation

and to the many individual, foundation, government agency,

and corporate donors who generously supported this expanding

program in 2015–2016. And access and learning programs

overall were expanded with new initiatives like Archaeological

Adventures Homeschool Days, over 20 new programs for International Classroom, and a range of new accessibility

programs for students with autism and other disabilities.

Also in its second year, the Center for the Analysis of Archaeological Materials (CAAM) welcomed new teaching specialists in archaeobotany and archaeometallurgy, and

significantly increased undergraduate and graduate enrollments

for all courses. The especially popular ANTH 148 Food and Fire

(Fall 2015) fully enrolled with 42 students almost immediately,

with a long waiting list, a testament to Mainwaring Teaching

Specialist for Archaeozoology Kate Moore, whose dynamic

and inspiring instruction was recognized by the Dean’s Award

for Distinguished Teaching by Affiliated Faculty in April. In

addition, Food and Fire was approved to fulfill the College of Arts & Science’s General Education Requirement.

None of this activity, nor the myriad additional research,

teaching, and engagement activities documented in the pages

that follow, would be possible without the generosity—of time,

of talent, of financial resources—of our many volunteers and

supporters. Our gratitude to each and every one of them is

profound. We wish, in particular, to express thanks to Overseer

John Hover, chair from 2000 to 2006, whose term concluded in

2015–2016; we are delighted that he will add his lively presence

and wise counsel to our Director’s Council. We also owe a debt of

gratitude to the Penn Museum Women’s Committee, an integral

part of the Museum since its formation in 1937, and founder of an

extraordinary number of its departments and programs. With its

mission so well fulfilled, the members decided to cease formal operations as a separate 501(c)(3) in 2016; as we celebrate their magnificent achievements, we could not be more grateful for their service.

Left

Chairman Mike Kowalski and Williams Director Dr. Julian Siggers in the Lower Egyptian Gallery.

We instituted now-popular monthly members’ tours of

exhibitions and galleries, beginning with Sacred Writings. And

we engaged audiences of all ages, members and non-members

alike, with expanded public programs, ranging from Gallery

Romps (ages 3-6), to themed Young Professionals networking evenings, to new adult group daytime tours.

We look forward to more programs, engaged audiences, and

new discoveries to come, and express deepest thanks to the loyal

and generous volunteers and donors who make them possible.
A new Storytime Expedition Series (K-3) attracted some of

our youngest visitors, while a new Teen Summer Internship

Program brought together high school students interested in

archaeology, anthropology, education, and related fields for

three weeks of hands-on experience in areas including Learning

Programs, Exhibitions, Archives, and the Near East and Physical

Anthropology Sections. The Penn Museum also hosted 38 Chinese undergraduates in a four-week course through the

Jiangsu Education Service for International Education (JESIE),

and took workshops into classrooms around the U.S. and the

world through increasingly popular Distance Learning offerings.

In its second full year, the landmark partnership program with

the Philadelphia School District Unpacking the Past reached over

Michael J. Kowalski, W74

Julian Siggers, Ph.D.

Chairman

Williams Director

P E N N M U S E U M A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 1 5 – 2 0 1 6

The New Penn Museum

WHILE OUR MESSAGE ON THE PREVIOUS PAGE highlights

notable activities in 2015–2016 across a breadth of research,

teaching, collections stewardship, and public engagement

programs—the very pillars on which our mission to transform understanding of the human experience stands—the year also

saw enormous progress in our “Building Transformation” project. In broad strokes, this project will see the complete

renovation of the historic Harrison and Coxe Wings, opened

in 1915 and 1926 respectively, and the reinstallation of the iconic galleries housed in those wings showcasing the

extraordinary collections we steward from Egypt and Asia. The

project will also encompass new galleries of the ancient Middle

East, installed in the spaces so beautifully renovated in 2011 as

part of our West Wing Renovation Project, and two new galleries

that cross curatorial sections, telling the stories of writing and the crossroads of cultures in the eastern Mediterranean.

Calling this process “Building Transformation” works

on more than one register: we are literally transforming the

building, giving new life, full visitor accessibility and amenities,

and (long-awaited) air-conditioning to wings built a century or more ago, and reinstalling—in total—more than 35,000 square feet of gallery space. A transformation indeed!
Entrance for all of our visitors. New signage on the South Street façade and corner of 33rd and South more clearly directs visitors to our entrances and our current exhibitions and programming.

Concurrently, planning and preparation for transforming the interior continued apace, in close coordination with the

University of Pennsylvania Health System (UPHS) as their own construction of a New Patient Pavilion (designed by renowned

architect Norman Foster and Associates) proceeds immediately to

our south. Support from UPHS and the University’s Department

of Facilities and Real Estates Services, along with a number of gifts

including a lead gift from Board Chair Mike Kowalski and family

through the Kowalski Family Foundation, enabled us to move

forward in selecting an architect and proceeding to schematic

design. After a rigorous selection process in fall 2015, we were

delighted to invite architectural ﬁrm Gluckman Tang, of New

York City, renowned for their sensitive intervention into historic

buildings (including the Perelman Building at the Philadelphia

Museum of Art) to lead a design team including key partners

mechanical engineers Altieri Sebor Wieber LLC (Norwalk,

CT) and structural engineers Keast and Hood (Philadelphia,

PA). In summer 2016 we were pleased to select HSC Builders

& Construction Managers, of Exton, PA, to further investigate, recommend project phasing and manage construction.

45

The ﬁrst of these phases, which will begin construction just

a year away in November 2017 and conclude by spring 2019,

involves a full renovation of the historic Harrison Auditorium, which will be accessed from the grand staircases of the original

1899 building right inside the Main Kamin Entrance, allowing

the creation of a large and dramatic new gallery space by the

removal of the additional staircase dividing the entrance area

from the current Museum Shop behind it. The pathway from this

new gallery into the Egyptian galleries will be widened and light-

ﬁlled through ﬂoor-to-ceiling windows on the courtyard side. And

renovation of the restrooms in the Harrison Auditorium lobby,

and new restrooms on both gallery ﬂoors in the Coxe (Egyptian)

Wing, together with new elevators from ﬁrst to third ﬂoors in

both wings, will enhance visitor amenities and accessibility.

The second phase, which—pending funding—we hope to

continue seamlessly after Phase One, will complete renovation

of the Coxe (Egyptian) Wing and see a dramatic reinstallation of its spectacular public galleries, as well as new, fully climate-

controlled storerooms for the Egyptian Collection. Phase Three

will complete the transformation with the renovation of Pepper

Hall and the iconic Rotunda, and the installation of new galleries

of Buddhism and the History of China. Fall 2015 also saw the selection—again, through a rigorous process—of Haley Sharpe Design (Leicester, UK, with offices

in Toronto and South Africa) and Tim Gardom Associates

(London, UK) as designers and interpretive planners for the

new galleries to house collections from the ancient Middle

East. Following seven months of intensive work with a team

of no less than 10 curators as well as key Museum staff, their plans for a magnificent, engaging space to display some of the

most iconic pieces in our collection were shared with our Board

Above

But we are also transforming the ways we invite visitors to

engage with the remarkable collections that tell the story of our

common human history: through a spotlight on iconic objects

that are rightfully world-renowned, through digital technology,

through other touchable or interactive exhibits, through an

emphasis on ongoing research that brings the thrill of discovery

right into the galleries.

This transformation gained visible momentum in 2015–2016 as

a landscaping project on 33rd Street allowed a look into the hub of activity in the conservation and teaching labs on the ﬁrst ﬂoor,

and a new ramp, complete with beautiful landscaping of trees and

grasses, opened access to the Warden Garden and Main Kamin

New signage along the Museum’s South Street façade.

Above

and members of the Loren Eiseley Society in June. Telling our

human story starting 10,000 years ago in ancient Mesopotamia

of the transition from hunter/gatherer to life in settlements,

villages, and cities—through objects from our first and some

of our most exciting excavations in the region—the galleries

will include digital and touchable displays, a space for rotating

display of remarkable but light-sensitive textiles and documents, a spotlight on our continuing research and new discoveries in the

Middle East, and a focus on Philadelphia, and how our modern,

urban way of life derives from the great cities of Mesopotamia. Located appropriately adjacent to our Main Kamin Entrance, these galleries will open in April 2018.

The Penn Museum looking northeast from the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

Right Above

The new Galleries of the Ancient Middle East (April 2018) will include objects excavated at Ur, Iraq.

Right Below

The renovated Harrison Auditorium will include new lighting systems.

Changes this sweeping hardly come easily. 2015–2016 also saw

intense activity relocating the entire contents of the Egyptian storerooms to offsite storage space, and the de-installation of

large and iconic pieces in the galleries—notably an intact ancient

Egyptian tomb chapel and the two large, Buddhist murals that

have anchored the Rotunda since arriving at the Museum in the

1920s—all in preparation for construction. Greater challenges remain on many levels, the largest (literally) among them the

relocation, conservation, and reinstallation of the monumental

stone artifacts in our Egyptian and Asian Collections.

As visitors navigate around construction walls, we ardently

hope they will share our excitement at what is going on behind

them, and our anticipation of the Penn Museum renaissance that

will emerge on their removal. Our Building Transformation—a

transformation possible only with the highest generosity of

our family of supporters—will ensure the stewardship and

showcasing of our collections and research at the highest level

of museum interpretive design, ensuring the continuation of

our Museum’s spirit of exploration and discovery for all of us now and for new generations.

As we navigate these changes in the coming construction period, we are completely committed to keeping our Penn

Museum open, with a full range of programming for public and

school group visitors alike, and access to galleries for enjoyment

and events intact—the carefully developed phasing plan makes

this possible, in addition to allowing time for fundraising. We

will, of course, need to close oﬀ certain areas during each phase

of construction, and we pledge to communicate clearly with all of

our stakeholders well in advance as well as during these changes.

YEAR IN REVIEW

Left

In 2015–2016, we laid the groundwork for a transformed Penn Museum that will take shape over the next ﬁve years.

Simultaneously, while planning for the future, we also

continued to expand each day the initiatives that uphold

our mission of research, teaching, collections stewardship,

and public engagement. The Golden Age of King Midas

exhibition, for example, showcased 65 years of Penn

research at Gordion, Turkey; the Center for the Analysis of

Archaeological Materials added teaching specialists, course

oﬀerings, and expanded capacity for increasing numbers

of engaged and excited students; conservators assessed,

treated, and/or rehoused hundreds of artifacts, from the

tiny to the monumental; and Learning & Access programs like Unpacking the Past, in its second year, reached curious students and visitors in the Museum, in local classrooms, and, through Distance Learning, thousands of miles away.

Three Women (“Orpheus and Euridice”) Watercolor by Piet de Jong, 1957. PM object 153729.

Above

Gold appiqués, originally sewn onto a shroud. Russia, Maikop. PM objects 30-33-1.1 and 30-33-1.16.

Alongside these highlights, a vast range of near-daily

programming and events contributed to the Museum’s role

asaplaceofcontinualdiscoveryandexplorationin2015–2016.

The following pages provide a glimpse into these activities.

By the Geography

Penn Museum 2015-16

8

9

Teaching & Research

2015-2016 Penn Museum-Sponsored Field Projects

Curator, Keeper, & Consulting Scholar Research Projects

Penn Museum-aﬃliated researchers in 2015–2016 included 51 curators, project managers, and keepers and 162 consulting scholars across 11 curatorial sections and two teaching and research centers, most of them engaged in active ﬁeld research around the globe. Of the numerous recent and current research projects directed or co-directed by these scholars, the Penn Museum was pleased to support, through the Director’s Field Fund, 16 projects in the United States and 8 other countries, which took place in the fall of 2015 or the winter, spring, or summer of 2016, and are summarized in the pages that follow.

Student Fieldwork

Through these and other projects, the Penn Museum provides opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to gain invaluable experience working as part of a team (often with both international experts and local workers) in the ﬁeld. A total of 33 students (8 undergraduate and 25 graduate) were team members on six of the Museum-supported projects referenced above and other projects. All told, in 2015–2016, Penn students gained Museum-sponsored experience in the following countries:

LOCATIONS

•••••Azerbaijan Bulgaria Canada Egypt
•••••French Guiana Germany Greece
•••••Mexico Romania Trinidad

Turkey

Israel

France

Italy

United States

year in review

Far Left

Photo: Jane Sancinito, GR Ancient History

Above

Photo: Gavin Blasdel, GR Ancient History

Right

Photo: Alexandria Mitchem, C16

Above Right

Photo: Jordan Rogers, GR Ancient History

10 11

Molly Gleeson and Daniel Doyle work on the conservation of the painted decoration in the burial chamber of king Seneb-Kay (ca. 1650 BCE), June 2016. Photography by South Abydos Project.

year in review

Excavations at Anubis-Mountain, South Abydos (Egypt)

Project Director: Josef Wegner, Ph.D., Associate Curator, Egyptian Section

Penn Museum Team Members: Jennifer Wegner, Ph.D., Associate Curator, Egyptian Section; Kevin Cahail, Ph.D.; Molly

Gleeson, Schwartz Project Conservator

Penn Graduate Student Team Members: Matthew Olson, Paul Verhelst, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations Other Team Member: Daniel Doyle, Conservator

Right

FIELDWORK THIS LAST YEAR HAS INCLUDED expanded

investigations in and around the royal necropolis at Anubis-Mountain, South Abydos. Excavations continued inside the largest known royal monument at the site: the subterranean tomb of Senwosret III (Dynasty 12, ca. 1850 BCE). Work inside the tomb, which has now been under excavation since 2005, has reached the innermost known chamber. A surprising result is that indications have emerged for the continuation of the tomb into areas that are currently inaccessible. Significant damage to the tomb’s inner chambers had occurred during the late Roman Period. What was long thought to be the tomb’s burial chamber appears now to be only a transitional space blocking access to additional elements of the tomb. Work in both the winter of 2015–16 and summer of 2016 has focused on the challenging task of removing extensive stone debris from robbers’ passages through the bedrock in this inner end of the tomb. Excavation in other areas of the royal necropolis has broken new ground in the search for evidence on the development of this previously unknown royal necropolis that spans Egypt’s late Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period (1850–1600 BCE).