® SPRING 2011 THE MAGAZINE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA VOLUME 53, NUMBER 1 MUSEUM OF ARCHAEOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY ExpedWWW.PENN.MUSEUM/EXPEDITIONition AFGHAN WAR RUGS A CONSERVATION PROGRAM AT GORDION IN SEARCH OF SAN PIETRO D’ASSO ARCHAEOLOGY AND SHIPWRECKS spring 2011 contentsVOLUME 53, NUMBER 1 features AFGHAN WARS, ORIENTAL CARPETS, 11 AND GLOBALIZATION By Brian Spooner RESURRECTING GORDION: 21 PRESERVING TURKEY’S PHRYGIAN CAPITAL By Frank G. Matero and C. Brian Rose 11 IN SEARCH OF SAN PIETRO D’ASSO 30 By Stefano Campana, Michelle Hobart, Richard Hodges, Adrianna de Svastich, and Jennifer McAuley ARCHaeometry AND SHIPWRECKS: 36 A REVIEW ARTICLE From Mine to Microscope: Advances in the Study of Ancient Technology 21 By James D. Muhly departments 2 From the Editor 3 From the Director 4 From the Archives—Jim Thompson, the Thai Silk King 7 What in the World—Telmu and Petrui: 30 A Rediscovered Romance? 9 From the Field—Guerilla Fashion: Textiles in Motion Push Change in Indian Art 45 Museum Mosaic—People, Places, Projects on the cover: Detail from Afghan war rug shown on page 13. Amanullah Khan, depicted here, helped lead Afghanistan to 36 independence in 1919. Photo by Textile Museum of Canada. We welcome letters to the Editor. Expedition® (ISSN 0014-4738) is published three times a year by the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 3260 South St., Philadelphia, PA 19104-6324. ©2011 University of Pennsylvania. All rights reserved. Expedition is a Please send them to: registered trademark of the University of Pennsylvania Museum. All editorial inquiries should be addressed to the Editor at the above Expedition address or by email to [email protected]. Subscription price: $35.00 per subscription per year. International subscribers: add Penn Museum $15.00 per subscription per year. Subscription, back issue, and advertising queries to Maureen Goldsmith at publications@museum. 3260 South Street upenn.edu or (215)898-4050. Subscription forms may be faxed to (215)573-9369. Please allow 6-8 weeks for delivery. www.museum.upenn.edu/expeditionPhiladelphia, PA 19104-6324 1 Email: [email protected] welcome From the Editor the williams director Richard Hodges, Ph.D. ver the last several decades, Afghanistan has suffered from williams directors emeritus invasion, revolution, and civil war. Although we frequently Robert H. Dyson, Jr., Ph.D. Jeremy A. Sabloff, Ph.D. read about the suffering experienced by the Afghan people, we rarely see firsthand the lasting impact of continuous con- deputy director C. Brian Rose, Ph.D. flict. Our first feature article focuses on one aspect of Afghan culture that reflects its recent history: war rugs. These rugs will be featured in chief operating officer O Melissa P. Smith, CFA Battleground: War Rugs from Afghanistan, a new exhibition which opens at the chief of staff to the williams director Penn Museum on April 30, 2011. The 63 rugs in the exhibition do not depict James R. Mathieu, Ph.D. the traditional designs of oriental carpets; instead they include images of war— director of development tanks, fighter jets, helicopters, land mines, and guns. Amanda Mitchell-Boyask The next two articles describe aspects of current archaeological projects asso- mellon associate deputy director Loa P. Traxler, Ph.D. ciated with the Penn Museum. Frank G. Matero and C. Brian Rose write on efforts undertaken by Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey, and merle-smith director of community engagement the University of Pennsylvania to develop and implement a preservation plan Jean Byrne for Gordion. This is followed by a two-part article on recent work in San Pietro director of exhibitions d’Asso, Italy; the first section chronicles the results of the 2010 excavation sea- Kathleen Quinn son, followed by a description of what it was like, from the perspective of Penn director of marketing and communications undergraduates, to spend a month working and living in Tuscany. Our fourth Suzette Sherman feature is a review article by Penn Professor Emeritus and former Editor of associate director Expedition, James D. Muhly. Jim reviews a recent festschrift published in honor for administration Alan Waldt of Michael Tite and discusses current scholarship on copper oxhide ingots and bronze artifacts discovered on shipwrecks off the coast of Turkey. expedition staff Several short articles are also included in this issue. In “From the Archives,” editor Jane Hickman, Ph.D. Alessandro Pezzati describes the lives of two people associated with the Penn associate editor Museum in the mid-20th century: Jim Thompson, the “Thai Silk King,” and his Jennifer Quick friend and colleague, Elizabeth Lyons. Jean Turfa tells the unusual story behind assistant editor Emily B. Toner two clay urns in the Etruscan collection. And Lucy Fowler Williams describes subscriptions manager the intersection between Native American culture and contemporary fashion. Maureen Goldsmith The Museum has had a busy winter, as evidenced by the expanded “Museum editorial advisory board Mosaic” section. Fran Barg, Ph.D. We are planning several special themed issues for the next two years: a Clark L. Erickson, Ph.D. James R. Mathieu, Ph.D. Summer 2011 issue on excavations in Italy, and 2012 issues that celebrate the Naomi F. Miller, Ph.D. Museum’s 125th anniversary and a new exhibition on the Maya. As always, we Janet M. Monge, Ph.D. Theodore G. Schurr, Ph.D. welcome your feedback on Expedition. Robert L. Schuyler, Ph.D. design Anne Marie Kane Imogen Design www.imogendesign.com FPO jane hickman, ph.d. printing Editor C&B Graphics www.cnbgraphics.com 2 volume 53, number 1 expedition from the director Penn Museum and Afghanistan by richard enn museum has long had a part in revealing Afghan hodges archaeological history. In 1953, at Director Froelich Rainey’s instigation, Rodney PYoung, Curator of the Mediterranean Section and Director of the Gordion exca- vations, conducted excavations at the ancient city of Bactra, modern-day Balkh. Young was drawn to the site because the great city on the Oxus had featured in Alexander the Great’s eastern adventures, before becoming the capital city of the Euthydemids in Hellenistic times, and then, according to the Romans, a fabulously rich place in the centuries after Christ. Young’s excavations enabled him to phase the topographic outlines of the city, which he concluded were “three times as big as Gordion…and ten times as big as the mound of Troy, a city…not entirely without reputation” (American Journal of Archaeology 59 [1955]:267-276). Balkh-Bactra is but one small glimpse of the extraordinary archaeology of Afghanistan, a country that was for millennia an interface between East and West. Froelich Rainey (on camelback) in Afghanistan, 1952. The Afghan war rugs from the Textile Museum of Canada, UPM Image # 48652 featured in the Penn Museum’s new exhibition Battleground: War Rugs from Afghanistan (April 30–July 31, 2011), affirm the axiomatic place of this troubled country as a bridge history and culture of this country. Iconographically—as I between East and West, but from the standpoint of our era. believe all visitors to this exhibition will agree—these war rugs These extraordinary rugs tell an indigenous story through are masterpieces by peoples who have for the most part been their vivid and harrowing iconography of invasions over the “without history” (i.e. unable to comment themselves in writ- past 30 years. What was once an uncomfortable story for ten texts) but continue to play an important role in on-going British colonial forces in the earlier 20th century has become East-West relations. in modern times uncomfortable for first the Soviet Union, then, since 2001, for the coalition of NATO countries now entangled in a complicated struggle. These exquisite objects invite us to reflect, of course, on this struggle, but our greater hope is that this exhibition, like Rodney Young’s excavations, richard hodges, ph.d. will encourage our audiences to consider the extraordinary The Williams Director Penn Museum www.penn.museum/expedition 3 from the archives Buddhist priests blessed Jim Thompson’s Thai house in Bangkok, 1959. UPM Image # 194079. Jim Thompson, the Thai Silk King by alessandro ounger generations may Thailand was never colonized, and, though ostensibly pezzati not know Jim Thompson an ally of Japan during the war, it did not participate in (1906–1967?), but in the the fighting and suffered little damage. Upon his arrival, 1950s and 1960s he was Thompson was immediately enchanted by the country’s famous throughout the unique character and by the city of Bangkok, with its peo- Yworld as Thailand’s “Silk King,” and as ple and their art. He also saw business opportunities. His an arbiter of international taste. Born passion was taken by Thai silk, a local tradition he helped of a wealthy Delaware family, Thompson graduated from revive, creating a demand all over the world. He formed Princeton and attended the University of Pennsylvania School the Thai Silk Company in 1951 and, with a keen sense of Architecture. Though he never completed his degree, he of color and indefatigable salesmanship, became extremely became an architect nonetheless, designing houses as well as successful. His creations became famous—worn by celeb- landscapes and interiors. By his mid-thirties, however, he had rities and socialites—and were even used in the 1956 film grown dissatisfied with his life as a carefree bachelor and had The King and I. In addition to silk, Thompson’s passions begun to alienate his family with his increasingly liberal politi- included collecting antiquities from temples and caves cal views. World War II prompted him to quit his job and around the country, and the house he built to display them enlist. He traveled to North Africa, Italy, and France before and entertain his constant stream of guests.