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The curious case of ancient bear bones at a Mississippi dig site
A person standing outside in front of a brick building, hands in the pockets of a gray swearing, over a black shirt and purple necklace.

Megan Kassabaum is an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology in the School of Arts & Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania and the Weingarten Assistant Curator for North America at the Penn Museum.

The curious case of ancient bear bones at a Mississippi dig site

Penn and UNC Chapel Hill researchers theorize that the considerable black bear remains indicate an animal that was a food source and considered close kin to the people who lived there 1,300 years ago.

Michele W. Berger

Nourishing the brain with conversations about food
Two people standing next to a marble staircase, with stands and a sphinx blurry in the background.

Penn archaeologist Megan Kassabaum (left) and biocultural anthropologist Morgan Hoke organized the series on food taking place at the Penn Museum on Mondays. During the fall semester, academics from nine institutions spoke on a range of topics, from food as life sustaining to how pizza and sushi gained their prominence. Spring semester, the talks have turned inward, focusing on the research happening across the University.

Nourishing the brain with conversations about food

A yearlong colloquium from Penn Anthropology offers a steady diet of research perspectives, delving into how this facet of culture affects modern health and practices, and broadens our historical outlook.

Michele W. Berger

A unique fellowship for Middle Eastern languages
Five people sit along ancient mud walls at an archeological dig in Iraq.

Katherine Burge, second from right, sits with coworkers at an archeological dig in Iraqi Kurdistan in 2017 .

A unique fellowship for Middle Eastern languages

Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, the Foreign Language and Area Studies Program (FLAS) offers undergraduate and graduate-level academic year and summer fellowships to Penn students studying Middle Eastern languages.

Kristen de Groot

Penn Museum’s transformation revealed
sphinx in the archway of the museum entrance

Penn Museum’s transformation revealed

The main level reopens after a historic renovation featuring the relocated sphinx and completely reimagined Africa and Mexico/Central America galleries.

Louisa Shepard

Laser-scanning tech uncovers huge network of ancient Mayan farms

Laser-scanning tech uncovers huge network of ancient Mayan farms

Emily Hammer of the School of Arts and Sciences commented on research that used lasers to unveil a network of ancient Mayan farms. “This important study and others like it are demonstrating that large-scale ancient modification of land surfaces in tropical zones across the world likely contributed to the early beginnings of a period in which humans became a significant transformative force in the Earth system,” she said.

A quest to restore cultural heritage in Iraq, one site at a time
people gathered around surveying iraqi destruction

A quest to restore cultural heritage in Iraq, one site at a time

Penn archaeologists, in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Mosul and Iraq’s State Board of Antiquities and Heritage, seek to undo the terrible destruction ISIS wrought, particularly on targeted minority groups.

Michele W. Berger

Crowdsourcing 10,000 years of land use
A brown cow standing in a mountain landscape in the Italian Alps.

To predict what will happen in the future, its important to understand what happened in the past. Thats the idea behind ArchaeoGLOBE, a project that looks at land use around the world—like in the Italian Alps, seen here—during the past 10,000 years. (Photo courtesy: Lucas Stephens) 

Crowdsourcing 10,000 years of land use

More than 250 archaeologists from around the world contributed their knowledge to ArchaeoGLOBE, an effort to better understand the prevalence of agriculture, pastoralism, and hunting and gathering at different points in human history.

Michele W. Berger

Through gemstones, a glimpse into ancient Egyptian civilization
In a room with stacks of books on bookshelves, a person sits at a table wearing rubber gloves to analyze materials sitting in a basket on her right. She holds them over two white papers, and to her left are a notepad, phone, and computer.

Doctoral student Shelby Justl studies the semiprecious stones of ancient Egypt in an effort to better understand the role that red jasper, carnelian, and others played in that society. Here, she is seen at the British Museum in 2018. (Photo: Courtesy Shelby Justl)

Through gemstones, a glimpse into ancient Egyptian civilization

Doctoral student Shelby Justl’s research expands what we know about who controlled semiprecious stones like red jasper and carnelian, plus their cultural and economic significance.

Michele W. Berger