Penn Museum | Penn Today

Going above and beyond in archaeology and museum work

Fourth-year Qi Liu has participated in every undergraduate program at the Penn Museum, done research for two senior theses in anthropology and art history, and joined excavations in the U.S. and abroad.

From Ancient Egypt to Roman Britain, brewers are reviving beers from the past

Patrick McGovern of the School of Arts & Sciences and Penn Museum oversaw the first hi-tech molecular analysis of residues found in bronze drinking vessels during a 1950s excavation of an ancient Turkish tomb.

Why Indigenous artifacts should be returned to Indigenous communities

The Penn Museum is noted for creating its “Native American Voices: The People—Here and Now” exhibit with the help of tribal representatives.

Young students at the Middle East Galleries at the Penn Museum.

‘Unpacking the Past’ at the Penn Museum

Celebrating its 10th year, the program funds and manages field trips to the Museum for about 6,000 Philadelphia middle schoolers a year.

Gordion: A lost city of legends in central Turkey

Brian Rose of the School of Arts & Sciences and Penn Museum has led excavations at the ancient Turkish city of Gordion since 2007.

A historic, black-and-white image of two children gazing at the crystal ball

The Penn Museum’s crystal ball

For almost 100 years—except for the three it went missing—one of the world’s largest crystal balls has occupied the Asia Galleries of the Penn Museum.

Kathleen Morrison on biodiversity and climate change

The faculty director of the Environmental Innovations Initiative, her research spans anthropology, archaeology, and paleoecology, involving the study of historic climates and environments, with a focus on South Asia.

A burial for 19 Black Philadelphians, 200 years in the making

Penn Museum Director Christopher Woods says that the interment of 19 Black Philadelphians at Eden Cemetery represents a reckoning with the Museum’s colonial past and an act of reconciliation with the local community.

A step toward ethical stewardship and ongoing repair

An interfaith commemoration for 19 Black Philadelphians whose remains were part of the Morton Cranial Collection will take place at the Penn Museum.

emily wilson sitting in the penn museum auditorium

A ‘celebrity translator’ takes center stage

Emily Wilson, professor of classical studies, is renowned for her English translations of Homer’s ancient Greek epic poems, first “The Odyssey” and now the “The Iliad.”

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