® EXPEDITIONTHE MAGAZINE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA MUSEUM OF ARCHAEOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY SPRING 2014 | VOLUME 56, NUMBER 1 THE PENN MUSEUM AT Abydos An in-depth look at recent archaeological work and new discoveries “…everything has a past. Everything – a person, an object, a word, everything. If you don’t know the past, you can’t understand the present and plan properly for the future.” — !"#$% &'('), *#+$(#’, "#-& RIGHT: This New Kingdom statue (1479-1458 BCE) depicts the overseer of priests, Sitepehu. The form of his body is only faintly perceptible beneath his long robe that completely covers his body and feet. The statue is notable for its large size and unusually well-preserved paint. The inscription on the front and right side of the statue addresses requests for the afterlife to the gods Osiris and Inheret, and lists Sitepehu’s name, titles, epithets and virtues. PLAN FOR WHAT’S IMPORTANT TO YOU Today’s interest rates create a favorable climate for Charitable Lead Trusts, which allow some donors to: • leverage significant gift and estate tax advantages, enabling transfers to heirs at a lower tax cost • distribute appreciated trust assets to heirs without additional tax • smooth out income if created during an unusually high-income year Please contact Robert Vosburgh at [email protected] or 215.573.5251 to learn more about creative and advantageous ways to support the Penn Museum. SPRING 2014 | VOLUME 56, NUMBER 1 NEW DISCOVERIES 39 Discovering Pharaohs Sobekhotep & contents Senebkay: An Update from the 2013–2014 Field Season By Josef Wegner MUSEUM EXCAVATIONS AT ABYDOS 42 The Remains of Senebkay: First 8 Revealing a Hidden Tomb: A Look Glimpse of a New Pharaoh at Excavations inside the Tomb of By Paul Verhelst and Matthew Olson Senwosret III By Josef Wegner 16 Fragments of a Difficult Era: ABYDOS IN THE PENN MUSEUM Excavations of Tomb S9 at South 43 Hidden Treasures: Abydos in the Abydos By Dawn McCormack Basement By Jennifer Houser Wegner 19 Ancient Reuse: The Discovery of a 52 Saving History: The Conservation Royal Sarcophagus Chamber of Painted Coffin Fragments from By Josef Wegner and Kevin M. Cahail Abydos By Molly Gleeson 24 The Palatial Residence of Wah-sut: 54 The Last Partage: Dividing Finds from Modeling the Mayor’s House at the 1960s Excavations By David O’Connor South Abydos By Josef Wegner 32 Taking It with You: The South Abydos Tomb Census By Kevin M. Cahail departments 36 Their Memory Lives On: Domestic 2 Funerary Commemoration at From the Director 3 Museum Awards Wah-sut By Kevin M. Cahail 4 From the Guest Editor 6 In the Galleries 57 From the Archives 59 Member News 62 New Acquisitions 63 Museum Mosaic 65 Looking Back PENN MUSEUM 3260 South Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6324 Telephone: 215.898.4000 Website: www.penn.museum Hours Tours Tuesday–Sunday: 10:00 am to 5:00 pm Docents offer tours most Saturdays and Closed Mondays and major holidays. Sundays at 1:30 pm. Check the Museum website for topics. Group discounts and Admission docent-led tours are available for groups ON THE COVER Penn Museum members: Free; PennCard of 10 or more with reservations. holders (Penn faculty, staff, and students): Free; & THIS PAGE: Active US military personnel with ID: Free; Museum Library Final photographs are taken at the Adults: $15.00; Seniors: $13.00; Open to the general public with ID. Call end of the 2013–2014 field season. Children (6-17) and students with ID: $10.00 215.898.4021 for information and hours. EXPEDITION Spring 2014 1 FROM THE DIRECTOR 5e 5rill of Discovery WILLIAMS DIRECTOR Julian Siggers, Ph.D. CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER ince arriving at the Penn Museum in July 2012, it has been one of my Melissa P. Smith, CFA great privileges as Williams Director to be able to allocate—from the CHIEF OF STAFF/HEAD OF COLLECTIONS Director’s Field Fund—seed funding for new and ongoing projects James R. Mathieu, Ph.D. led by Penn Museum researchers. 5rough this fund, in summer DEPUTY DIRECTOR/CHIEF CURATOR Stephen J. Tinney, Ph.D. S 2013, we were able to support many di6erent types of DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT projects in Abydos, Egypt; Calakmul, Mexico; Gordion Amanda Mitchell-Boyask (Yassıhöyük), Turkey; La Ferrassie, France; Quintana DIRECTOR OF EXHIBITIONS Roo, Mexico; Rowanduz, Iraq; Satu Kala, Iraq; Silver AND PUBLIC PROGRAMS Reef, Utah; and Taos, New Mexico. Kate Quinn Research is one of the key tenets of the Penn EXPEDITION STAFF Museum’s mission. In its 126 years, the Museum has EDITOR sponsored over 300 excavation and research expeditions; Jane Hickman, Ph.D. as a dynamic institution with many ongoing research ART DIRECTOR projects, it continues to be a vibrant and engaging place Christina Jones of discovery. ASSOCIATE EDITOR Our research projects are at the heart of the three KC Boas major initiatives of our new Strategic Plan (described on COPY EDITOR Page Selinsky page 59)—initiatives through which we invite under- ADVERTISING MANAGER AND graduate and graduate students, Philadelphia middle ADMINISTRATIVE COORDINATOR school students, and visitors to our Museum and our Maureen Goldsmith online content alike to join in the thrill of discovery. ADVISORY BOARD Nowhere was that thrill more evident than in the Clark L. Erickson, Ph.D. culmination of the Abydos 7eld season in January of Emily Goldsleger Maureen Goldsmith this year, when a Penn Museum team led by Josef Wegner, working in close Pam Kosty cooperation with Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, unearthed the tomb of James R. Mathieu, Ph.D. a previously unknown pharaoh: Woseribre-Senebkay, and the 7rst material proof Amanda Mitchell-Boyask Janet M. Monge, Ph.D. of a forgotten Abydos Dynasty, ca. 1650–1600 BCE. King Senebkay’s tomb was Alessandro Pezzati close to a larger royal tomb, recently identi7ed as belonging to a king Sobekho- Kate Quinn tep, (probably Sobekhotep I, ca. 1780 BCE) of the 13th Dynasty. C. Brian Rose, Ph.D. Teri Scott It is thus a particularly timely pleasure to welcome readers of Expedition on Stephen J. Tinney, Ph.D. a journey to Abydos through this special issue, planned and mostly written long Jennifer Houser Wegner, Ph. D. before the exciting discoveries of January, but brought up to date to include PRINTING them. We look forward to continuing to share—through publications and digital !e YGS Group media in our reinstalled galleries—the unfolding stories revealed by exploration of this extraordinary site in the coming years. Expedition® (ISSN 0014-4738) is published three times a year by the Penn Museum. Editorial inquiries should be addressed to the Editor at [email protected]. Please send advertising queries to Maureen Goldsmith at [email protected] or call ./0$#1 ,$223-,, &".*. 215.898.4050. Unless otherwised noted, all 4$00$#%, *$-3!('- images are courtesy of the Penn Museum. 2 EXPEDITION Volume 56 Number 1 MUSEUM AWARDS Penn Museum Honors Two Leaders 5e Penn Museum is pleased to announce the award of its Reunion Class of 1964; they were honored at a special dinner Lucy Wharton Drexel Medal to Jeremy A. Sablo", Ph.D., and on April 25, 2014 attended by their families and several of their its Marion Angell Godfrey Boyer Medal to John R. Rockwell. classmates, as well as the Museum’s leadership, Board of Over- Both Dr. Sablo6 and Mr. Rockwell are members of the 50th seers, and members of the Loren Eiseley Society. Established in 1889, the Lucy Wharton Drexel Medal !e Marian Angell Godfrey Boyer Medal was is given for achievement in excavation or publication established in 1987 to honor distinguished service by a of archaeological work. Museum supporter to the institution. 5e 2014 recipient—Jeremy Arac Sablo6 John R. “Rick” Rockwell, W64, —has numerous Penn connections: WG66, and Penn parent, remembers member of the Class of 1964, Penn parent, accompanying his grandfather to the former Museum Williams Director and Penn Museum and to Penn sporting American Section Curator, and former events during his childhood. 5ose Christopher H. Browne Distinguished early visits sowed the seeds for his later Professor of Anthropology. Dr. Sablo6’s unanimous involvement as an Overseer of both the Museum and Penn nomination by Museum Curators and Williams Director Athletics, where he chairs the Basketball Board. Julian Siggers recognizes his work in Maya archaeology on A deeply worthy recipient of the Angell Boyer Medal, some of the key scienti7c themes that have animated and Mr. Rockwell has served on the Museum’s Board of advanced the 7eld of Maya studies since the 1960s. Overseers since 2008 and is a member of the Finance and President of the Santa Fe Institute since 2009, Dr. Marketing and Acquisitions Committees. He has generously Sablo6 is the author of Excavations at Seibal: Ceramics underwritten a wide range of conservation, excavation, (1975), !e Cities of Ancient Mexico (1989; 2nd ed., and exhibition projects and is a longtime member of the 1997), !e New Archaeology and the Ancient Maya Platinum Circle of the Loren Eiseley Society. (1990), and Archaeology Matters (2008), and the co- Mr. Rockwell retired from T. Rowe Price Group author of numerous additional volumes; his publications in 2007. He served in various senior management re8ect 40 years of archaeological 7eld research in both capacities, most recently as National Sales Director, Mexico and Guatemala. Among his distinguished past T. Rowe Price Retirement Plan Services. He serves on appointments are President of the Society for American several other not-for-pro7t boards, including the Walters Archaeology, Editor of American Antiquity, and Chair of Art Museum in Baltimore. He and his wife, Frances, live the Smithsonian Science Commission. in Owings Mills, MD. EXPEDITION Spring 2014 3 FROM THE GUEST EDITOR Abydos and the Penn Museum bydos in southern Egypt is one of the great sites of ancient Egyptian civilization.