Kelsey Museum 2020 Annual Report
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© 2021 by The University of Michigan. All rights reserved. Published 2020. Printed in the United States of America. The Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, Ann Arbor ISBN: 978-1-7330504-1-8 Edited by Leslie Schramer with assistance from Joseph Frankl. On the cover: Nested jars with coin hoard (KM 2018.1.457), on display in the special exhibition Randal Stegmeyer: Exposing the Past. Unless otherwise noted, all photographs are courtesy of Michigan Photography. With special thanks to Randal Stegmeyer and Austin Thomason. The Kelsey Museum Contents of Archaeology Director’s Report . 1 Vision The Kelsey Museum of Archaeology creates Museum knowledge, explores the past, and educates Exhibitions & Installations . 5 for the future. Public Programs. 7 Comings & Goings. 9 Mission Happenings. 11 The Kelsey Museum of Archaeology advances Members . 14 understanding and appreciation of the ancient Donors, Docents & Volunteers . 15 Mediterranean world through our collections, Administration . 16 research, exhibitions, and fieldwork. Bioarchaeology Lab . 19 Conservation . 22 Values Education . 26 STEWARDSHIP | preserving collections Exhibitions . 37 and information for future generations in Facilities . 41 a sustainable way Publications. 48 RESEARCH | advancing knowledge through Registry . 51 scholarly inquiry and informed interpretation Research EDUCATION | inspiring life-long learning through Field Projects direct experience of the past Abydos Middle Cemetery Project, Egypt. 55 DISCOVERY | exploring new approaches El-Kurru and Jebel Barkal, Sudan . 59 to antiquity Gabii, Italy . 68 Olynthos, Greece . 70 CREATIVITY | fostering innovative collaboration Individual Reports . 72 and presentation RESPECT | finding strength in collaboration Staff & Students . 87 by valuing each other’s expertise and diverse perspectives University of Michigan Board of Regents Jordan B. Acker Michael J. Behm Mark J. Bernstein Paul W. Brown Sarah Hubbard Kelsey Museum of Archaeology Denise Ilitch 434 South State Street Ron Weiser Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1390 Katherine E. White 734-764-9304 Mark S. Schlissel (ex officio) lsa.umich.edu/kelsey ii Kelsey Museum of Archaeology Director’s Report Nicola Terrenato hat an unprecedented year! I think that 2020 is As of last July, Terry Wilfong concluded his term Wa strong contender for the strangest year that as director and is taking a richly deserved sabbatical. our institution has ever seen. Never before had New- We are all grateful for Terry’s leadership and steward- berry Hall been so scarcely populated, or the challeng- ship over the last three years. His care for the collec- es we had to face more complex and unexpected. Like tions and the conservation of our objects and archives many other facilities on campus, the museum displays is a legacy that will inform the future of our institu- had to close entirely in March 2020, while the offices tion. My own term succeeding him is only beginning. I and labs operated at very reduced capacity. To date, have been a Roman archaeologist for over thirty years restrictions conforming to U-M guidelines remain in (and I grew up in that beautiful, but eternally chaotic place. And yet, it has been a very productive and in- city), but I had never held a Kelsey position before. structive year, which has given us a chance to regroup I face a learning curve in discovering new aspects of and rethink on many different fronts. Thanks to the the collection and our research program, developing persistence and resourcefulness of the Kelsey staff, closer relationships with the staff, and familiarizing many of the challenges were met and turned into op- myself with Kelsey administrative systems. On the portunities for growth and innovation. From docent other hand, I bring a pair of fresh eyes that can be training and family days gone virtual, to an expansion helpful at a time of reconsidering various aspects of our social media footprint, to a growth in online of what we do. Indeed, we are about to start a new resources, many new avenues are opening and we are cycle of strategic planning, involving the entire Kelsey reconsidering multiple existing questions. community, to identify priorities and map out our This year confronted the entire country with work for the next few years. We are planning a virtual the stark realities of racism, producing a renewal of retreat that will give us the time and the space for calls for equity and justice, and a reexamination of a comprehensive reconsideration of the challenges institutional priorities. The Kelsey staff is committed ahead of us. For myself, I hope to begin a conversation to action. We have created a formal DEI (Diversity, about the practical implications of the issues under Equity, Inclusion) committee, chaired by Alex discussion in our DEI committee, and what we can do Zwinak. The history of Classical Archaeology, and of to further involve our community and increase our the Kelsey Museum, is intertwined with colonialism access and impact beyond Ann Arbor, to our state and which has left its imprints on the very nature of region. our discipline. To address these momentous issues, Another pair of fresh eyes belongs to Irene Soto the committee is working on several fronts, from a Marín, who started in September 2020 as assistant statement acknowledging our presence on indigenous curator of numismatics and assistant professor of lands to a re-imagination of the museum vestibule classical studies. Trained at Barnard College and at to foreground the people of color who are also the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World of central to the ancient world we strive to represent. New York University, Irene is an economic historian We are defining a specific anti-harassment policy for and numismatist specializing in late Roman Egypt. museum-sponsored fieldwork. It will go into effect We are thrilled to have her join the Kelsey, and we before the next field season (2022). The work on look forward to many years of her presence in our displaying our Islamic collection is another product of community. This is particularly true since ancient these conversations. coins (many from the site of Karanis) make up a very significant proportion of our collections and they Director’s Report Kelsey Museum of Archaeology 2020 Annual Report 1 are not at all well studied. The Kelsey has not had a committee for the new gallery that includes promi- specialist in numismatics since the 1980s, when Ted nent scholars on the U-M and NYU faculty, as well Buttrey retired. I have no doubt that Irene’s arrival as the director of the Arab-American Museum in will mark the beginning on a new era in the study of Dearborn. Their advisory role will interface with a our numismatic holdings and of the economic history working group of Kelsey staff tasked with designing of Egypt. and implementing the new display. This year also saw the retirement of two longtime In terms of temporary exhibitions, the museum members of the Kelsey team. Professor Elaine Gazda is currently displaying a show featuring the work of was curator of Roman antiquities for over forty years University of Michigan Library photographer Randal and director of the Kelsey for eleven years. Elaine was Stegmeyer, who has long served as photographer of the driving force behind many museum initiatives choice for the Kelsey. This temporary exhibit opened and exhibitions, including the one on Oplontis, by far on October 20, 2020, when the Museum was already the largest and richest the museum put on in recent closed to the public because of the pandemic. We years. Fortunately, she remains an emerita in Art are very much looking forward to a time when we History and in charge of the Kelsey Museum publica- can celebrate properly the work of this extraordinary tion program. In addition, the Kelsey office will not visual artist. In the meanwhile, the show is visible on be the same without the smiling presence of Sandra the Kelsey web site. Malveaux, the executive secretary for many years. We Kelsey researchers have been very active in hope that Elaine and Sandra will get some well-earned writing grants for future field and research seasons. rest and we are sure they will remain active members We are thrilled by their outstanding success. of our community. Conservators Caroline Roberts and Suzanne Davis One priority that is widely felt in the Kelsey have been awarded a major grant by the National community is the need to renew our permanent Endowment for the Humanities to advance the galleries, which were installed twelve years ago, after technical study of color in archaeological materials. the new Upjohn wing was built. This project also was Curator Janet Richards has applied for a Shelby White facilitated by the much-reduced flow of visitors. A and Leon Levy Grant for Archaeological Publications new large screen will be installed in the lobby, and for her volume about Abydos. Janet and Suzanne it will display a map of the archaeological regions also received a grant from the American Research represented in the museum, as well as news and Center in Egypt for the creation of a new display in updates about events and exhibits. The graphic style the Sohag museum in Egypt. Research Scientist Geoff of the text panels in the cases is being standardized, Emberling and Suzanne Davis were awarded a Large introducing a visual language for the various periods Grant from the US Ambassadors Fund for Cultural and thematic summaries, accessible to our younger Preservation, in support of a new cultural center at visitors. Work is also beginning on the installation Jebel Barkal in Sudan. Research Specialist Laura Motta of a new gallery, dedicated to the Byzantine and and IPCAA graduate student Sheira Cohen applied for Islamic periods, building on the temporary exhibitions a grant from the Archaeological Institute of America on those subjects in recent years, such as Pearls of in support of isotope analyses on ancient seeds and Wisdom (2014).