2015–2016 Annual Report

2015–2016 Annual Report 2015–2016 Annual Report 347EXECUTIVE MESSAGE THE NEW PENN MUSEUM YEAR IN REVIEW 88PENN 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 <a href="/goto?url=http://www.penn.museum/exhibitions/past-exhibitions" target="_blank">found at www.penn.museum/exhibitions/past-exhibitions. </a>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 <ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">Michael J. Kowalski, W74 </li><li style="flex:1">Julian Siggers, Ph.D. </li></ul><ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">Chairman </li><li style="flex:1">Williams Director </li></ul>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. 45The 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. 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 By the Geography Penn Museum 2015-16 89Teaching & 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 <ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">Turkey </li><li style="flex:1">Israel </li></ul><ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">France </li><li style="flex:1">Italy </li><li style="flex:1">United States </li></ul>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 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 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).

2015–2016 Annual Report

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