Channel Title: Penn Museum Channel Description: The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology is dedicated to the study and understanding of human history and diversity. Founded in 1887, the Penn Museum has conducted more than 400 archaeological and anthropological expeditions around the world. Three gallery floors feature materials from Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Bible Lands, Mesoamerica, Asia and the ancient Mediterranean World, as well as artifacts from native peoples of the Americas, Africa and Polynesia. The Penn Museum welcomes thoughtful and engaging conversation on our YouTube channel and reserves the right to remove any offensive, defamatory, obscene, or harassing comments. <video> New Insights into Ancient Nineveh and Nimrud Description: Dr. Michael Danti reveals one of the biggest discoveries since the 19th century—the Assyrian reliefs at the Mashki Gate of Nineveh. He’ll also share updates about his work at the Ishtar Sharrat Niphi Temple and Palace of Adad-Nerari III at Nimrud in Iraq. Work in and around the Mashki Gate and at other city gates is revising our understanding of the city’s defenses, and work at the Assyrian capital city of Nimrud has revealed significant new details on the Palace of Adad-Nerari III and this poorly understood period in the city's development. This palace, first excavated by Austen Henry Layard and later by Muzahim Hussein, still has much to offer in terms of our understanding of Assyrian palace architecture, its interior decoration, and the evolution of Nimrud over time. Exciting new discoveries were made here in 2023 shedding new light on this poorly understood monumental temple complex. Michael D. Danti, Ph.D., is a Near Eastern archaeologist and cultural heritage expert with over 30 years of experience directing archaeological programs and preservation initiatives in Syria, Iraq, Iran, and the United States. Since 2018, he has served as the Program Manager of the Iraq Heritage Stabilization Program at the University of Pennsylvania. Join us online for our flagship virtual lecture series featuring the Penn Museum’s leading researchers and experts. You’ll hear firsthand accounts from the forefront of archaeological exploration around the globe. See the line up here: https://www.penn.museum/events/archaeology-in-action </video> <video> Teotihuacan: Rome of the Ancient Americas Description: Around 100 CE, a huge metropolis began to emerge in the Basin of Mexico, one the Aztecs would later call Teotihuacan, or “Birthplace of the Gods.” It quickly came to dominate the region, and, with its completely new urban grid-plan, contained as many as 150,000 people. Its two gigantic buildings, the Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon, were surrounded by smaller temples, plazas, and a thousand or more apartment compounds. They were all once richly painted in dazzling colors and complex designs depicting twisting feathered serpents, prowling jaguars, storm gods and water goddesses, priests, warriors, and lords. But its history has long been a mystery, and we are only now beginning to understand its importance and impact on ancient Mesoamerica. Speaker: Simon Martin, Associate Curator and Keeper in the American Section, Penn Museum and Adjunct Associate Professor Anthropology, UPenn </video> <video> “Conquer or Die”: Boudica’s Revolt of 60-61 AD Description: Nearly twenty years after the Roman conquest of Britain a revolt broke out among the Iceni, a tribe inhabiting modern Norfolk. The revolt was led by Boudica, the warrior queen whose story has become the stuff of legend. In this lecture, we try to sort fact from fiction, investigating the seeds of rebellion in Rome’s abusive administration and then examining how the legend of Boudica has continued to grow and change over the centuries. About the Speaker Jeremy McInerney, Ph.D., is Davidson Kennedy Professor of Classical Studies and Chair of the Graduate Group in Ancient History at the University of Pennsylvania. Since 1992, he has taught both undergraduate and graduate level courses including Greek History, Demosthenes, the Greek World after Alexander, Religion and the Polis, Greek Epigraphy, Polybius, Greek Sanctuaries, and, most recently, the SNF Paideia designated course, Rhetoric and the Community. </video> <video> The Birthplace of the Buddha and Other Failures Description: This talk looks at five major Buddhist sites in Japan, Nepal, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, built over 2,500 years, that reveal a variety of strategies for memorializing Buddhist relics and historical moments. These massive projects range from museums to parks, from golden reliquaries to statues twice as tall as the Statue of Liberty. Looking at both the visionaries that planned these sites and the range of activities for Buddhist pilgrims and tourists, we will see the ways in which the Buddhist teachings of impermanence and non-attachment are negotiated and debated. Speakers: Justin McDaniel, Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Endowed Professor of the Humanities, Religious Studies UPenn </video> <video> Tribal Sovereignty and Indian Self-Determination Description: As a leader in the Native American rights movement, John Echohawk will discuss how the federal Indian policy terminating Indian tribes and forcing Indians to assimilate changed beginning in 1970 with the founding of the Native American Rights Fund and the advent of the new federal Indian policy of self-determination. About the Speaker John Echohawk (Pawnee) is Executive Director of the Native American Rights Fund. He was the first graduate of the University of New Mexico’s special program to train Indian lawyers, and was a founding member of the American Indian Law Students Association while in law school. John has been with NARF since its inception in 1970, having served continuously as Executive Director since 1977. He has been recognized as one of the 100 most influential lawyers in America by the National Law Journal and has received numerous service awards and other recognition for his leadership in the Indian law field. John serves on the Boards of the American Indian Resources Institute, the Association on American Indian Affairs, the Indigenous Language Institute, Natural Resources Defense Council, and the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development. B.A., University of New Mexico (1967); J.D., University of New Mexico (1970); Reginald Heber Smith Fellow (1970-72); Native American Rights Fund (August 1970 to present); admitted to practice law in Colorado. </video> <video> Sand Mandala at Penn Museum Description: Losang Samten a Tibetan Buddhist monk creates a sand mandala in the galleries of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (Penn Museum) as his American assistant gives some explanation of what he is doing. From 04/29/1989 </video> <video> Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s Indian Revolution: Fighting Caste, Gender, Sexuality and Forging a New Womanhood Description: Dr. B.R. Ambedkar (1891-1956) was an important revolutionary political thinker, anti-caste activist, intellectual, architect of India’s constitution, and formidable leader of modern India. Ambedkar famously called for the annihilation of the hierarchical caste order to create a just society based on liberty, equality, and fraternity. His critique of caste was deeply connected with gender, sexuality, labor, and the new Dalit political. His thoughts are most significant in the present times of strengthening right-wing Hindu fundamentalism, rising caste-based gendered and sexual violence, increased lynching of Dalits and Muslims, and amidst a new resurging wave of Dalit and anti-caste politics. About the Speaker Shailaja Paik, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of History at the University of Cincinnati. Her research and teaching interests lie at the intersection of a number of fields: modern South Asia, Dalit studies, gender and women's studies, social and political movements, oral history, human rights, and humanitarianism. As a historian, she specializes in the social, intellectual, and cultural history of Modern India. Dr. Paik’s current research is funded by the American Council of Learned Societies Frederick Burkhardt Fellowship, StanfordHumanities Center, National Endowment for the Humanities: American Institute of Indian Studies Senior Long-term Fellowship, and a Taft Center Fellowship. </video> <video> Marshland of Cities: Lagash and its Neighbors ca. 2500 BCE Description: Howard C. and Elizabeth Watts Petersen Annual Lecture The earliest cities in the world arose in a dynamic wetland environment at the intersection of the Tigris-Euphrates delta and the shore of the Persian Gulf during the 4th- and 3rd-millennia BCE. Recent work at the site of Lagash, led by the Penn Museum, in collaboration with the University of Pisa and Cambridge University, focuses on reconstructing the ancient environment of southern Iraq through remote sensing, geological coring, and excavation. This illustrated lecture will bring this formative chapter of human history to life through an overview of this work to date, including geological, ethnographic, and archaeological evidence. Speakers: Holly Pittman, Bok Family Professor in the Humanities; Professor, History of Art; Director, Lagash Archaeological Project and Curator, Near East Section, Penn Museum and Reed C Goodman, Ph.D. Candidate in the Art and Archaeology of the Mediterranean World. </video> <video> The Museum as a Revolutionary Icon Description: Museums have the power to respond to the present moment, exploring the contours of our humanity and revolutionizing our perspective on the world. From their earliest incarnations, museums have used their collections to bring resonance and context to the global community and our natural environment. Legendary educator and museum director John Cotton Dana once stated: "Find what aid the community needs and fit the museum to those needs”. Join us for a conversation about innovative activism that radically reimagines museums as socially responsive organizations who expand community care, uplift social justice, heighten curiosity, and speak to our shared future. Monica O. Montgomery believes museums must be in service to society! She is the newly minted Director of Community Engagement and Programs for Historic Germantown in Northwest Philadelphia, and previously served as Curator of Social Justice and Programming for the FUTURES exhibit celebrating the Smithsonian’s 175th Anniversary. She has curated exhibits with renowned organizations like the South African Embassy, Brooklyn Museum, Portland Art Museum, and the T. Thomas Fortune Cultural Center, and has worked as a consultant for museums and other institutions on DEI and community engagement. Additionally, Monica has taught graduate courses around museums, community engagement and social justice at American University, Georgetown University, Johns Hopkins University, Harvard University, Pratt Institute and NYU. She holds a B.A. in Broadcast Communication from Temple University and an M.A. in Corporate Communication from LaSalle University. </video> <video> Emiliano Zapata From Many Angles Description: Emiliano Zapata, the Mexican revolutionary general, is known for his varied and passionate pursuit of justice. He famously drafted the Plan of Ayala (1911), which declared President Francisco I. Madero incapable of fulfilling the goals of the revolution and outlined agrarian reforms to distribute land in a fair and ethical manner. This lecture will address the political and cultural heritage, symbolic representation, and contemporary presence of Zapata throughout his life and up to the present day. About the Speaker Obed Arango, Founder and Executive Director of the Centro de Cultura, Arte, Trabajo y Educación (CCATE), is a Mexican journalist, anthropologist, visual artist, filmmaker, and lecturer in the School of Social Policy & Practice at UPenn. Former faculty of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and professor at Montgomery County Community College, in 2006 he created the radio program, Villa Inmigrante, which was broadcast on Mexico’s Radio Universidad de Guadalajara. From 1994-2001, he conducted an ethnography of Mexico City’s Central Square, with a particular focus on the Zapatista movement. In 2015, Obed was the recipient of the prestigious Dr. Orlando Costas Service Award from Eastern University. He was also Education Champion of the Year at the 2016 Hispanic Choice Awards. His current research focuses on the Villa Inmigrante in Norristown, PA. </video> <video> Our Mountains Are Made By Hand: North American Mounds as World Heritage Description: A millennium ago, Native people constructed over 120 earthen mounds at the site of Cahokia, a World Heritage site in Illinois. Built entirely by hand, the largest of these constructions towered 100 feet over a city that was more densely populated than the contemporary medieval city of London. Over two thousand years before Cahokia’s construction, Native people in Louisiana built Poverty Point, another World Heritage site, and one of the only earthwork complexes that rivals Cahokia’s size and complexity--and they did so without agriculture or permanent settlements. These sites highlight the incredible engineering ability of ancient Americans, and remind us that we don’t need a passport to visit sites of outstanding universal value. Speaker: Megan C. Kassabaum, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, UPenn </video> <video> Ancient Essentials 🧵 Spindle Whorls Description: STRINGing you along for another #AncientEssentials. 🧵 Emily Hirshorn, Associate Director of School Programs, shares some fun facts on her favorite artifact in the Middle East Galleries: spindle whorls. These small weights with a hole in the middle were used to create string for textiles. Although we have more modern technologies to make string today, there are still a lot of contemporary fiber artists who prefer to still use the drop spindle. Stay tuned for more about #AncientEssentials with Museum educators, archaeologists, and more! 👇Tell us what you think about this one via the comments below. </video> <video> Narmer: The First King of Upper and Lower Egypt? Description: Narmer was a pivotal individual who lived during the development of Egypt’s state and its rise of kingship. His burial was likely at Abydos. A number of artifacts relating to him have survived from this period and they show increasing use of hieroglyphs, as well as the development of specific imagery and iconography that suggest royalty. In addition, material connected with him derives from several locations in Egypt, suggesting his increased importance and influence in many parts of the land. But was he the first to rule all of Egypt? Recent research on Narmer and the whole period of early kingship suggests a different picture of those involved with the development of kingship and the state in ancient Egypt. About the Speaker David P. Silverman, Ph.D., is Eckley Brinton Coxe, Jr. Professor of Egyptology and Curator of Penn Museum's Egyptian Section, and one of the leading authorities on the civilization of ancient Egypt. Dr. Silverman was the national curator, advisor, and academic content creator for the blockbuster exhibition Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs. He was also responsible for the curatorial content in the original 1977 Treasures of Tutankhamun exhibit and served as Curator in Chicago at the Field Museum. His extensive publications include numerous books and articles on Egyptian language, art, and religion, and he has directed several field expeditions at sites throughout Egypt. </video> <video> Becoming an UNESCO World Heritage Site Description: During the last 35 years Dr. C Brian Rose has had the good fortune to direct or co-direct excavations at two legendary sites in Turkey–-Troy and Gordion. Troy was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Site List in 1998; Gordion is being considered by UNESCO for World Heritage Status this year. Dr. Rose was involved in steering both sites through the UNESCO process. In this lecture, Dr. Rose will present the problems and unexpected detours we encountered, including a discussion of the extent to which regional, national, and global developments shaped the process. Speakers: C. Brian Rose, James B. Pritchard Professor of Archaeology, Curator-in-Charge, Mediterranean Section, University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology; Immediate Past President, Archaeological Institute of America; Trustee, American Academy in Rome </video> <video> Octavian, Mark Antony, and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium Description: By the first century BCE, Rome had gained control of the entire Mediterranean, but those conquests had been accompanied by a century of civil war that witnessed the assassination of politicians on all sides of the political spectrum. At one point, the adherents of one populist politician marched on Rome's temple of Castor and Pollux, which was closely associated with the Senate, and tore up the temple steps. This period of nearly continuous warfare would not end until 31 BCE, when Julius Caesar’s nephew Octavian vanquished the combined forces of Mark Antony and the Egyptian queen Cleopatra at the battle of Actium in northwestern Greece. This talk reviews the events leading up to the conflict, the circumstances of the battle itself, and the relationship between Egypt and Rome thereafter. About the Speaker C. Brian Rose, Ph.D.,is James B. Pritchard Professor of Mediterranean Archaeology and Peter C. Ferry Curator-in-Charge of the Mediterranean Section. Since 1988 he has been Head of Post-Bronze Age excavations at Troy, and between 2004-2007 he directed a survey project in the Granicus River Valley that focused on recording and mapping the Graeco-Persian tombs that dominate the area. In 2013, he became director of the Gordion Excavations in central Turkey, and in 2015 was elected President of the American Research Institute in Turkey. His research has concentrated on the political and artistic relationship between Rome and the provinces (Dynastic Commemoration and Imperial Portraiture in the Julio-Claudian Period, Cambridge, 1997), and on the monuments of Troy during the Classical periods (The Archaeology of Greek and Roman Troy, Cambridge, 2014). </video>

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The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology is dedicated to the study and understanding of human history and diversity. Founded in 1887, the Penn Museum has conducted more than 400 archaeological and anthropological expeditions around the world. Three gallery floors feature materials from Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Bible Lands, Mesoamerica, Asia and the ancient Mediterranean World, as well as artifacts from native peoples of the Americas, Africa and Polynesia.


The Penn Museum welcomes thoughtful and engaging conversation on our YouTube channel and reserves the right to remove any offensive, defamatory, obscene, or harassing comments.

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