53 minute read
Goddesses, Mothers and Rulers
The exhibition She Who Wrote: Enheduanna and Women of Mesopotamia, ca. 3400–2000 BC, is on view at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York from October 14, 2022, through February 19, 2023. Co-curated by Sidney Babcock, Jeannette and Jonathan Rosen Curator and Department Head, Ancient Western Asian Seals & Tablets, and Erhan Tamur, the exhibition brings together for the first time a comprehensive selection of artworks from the British Museum, the Louvre, the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Vorderasiatisches Museum, and the Penn Museum, among others, that capture rich and shifting expressions of women’s lives in ancient Mesopotamia during the 3rd millennium BC.
The Penn Museum loans to She Who Wrote include breathtakingly crafted objects associated with two of ancient Mesopotamia’s most powerful and important women: Puabi, Queen of Ur in her own right (ca. 2500 BC), and the high priestess and poet Enheduanna, (ca. 2300 BC), the earliest named author in world literature. These objects were among the approximately 28,000 uncovered by a team of archaeologists headed by C. Leonard Woolley from a series of Royal Tombs between 1922 and 1934 and divided, through the system of partage, between the Iraq Museum, the British Museum, and the Penn Museum. Thanks to the generosity of the Leon Levy Foundation, the Kowalski Family Foundation, and the Hagop Kevorkian Fund, the objects from these excavations housed at the British Museum and the Penn Museum can be found together online at the website www.ur-online. org. The opportunity, though, to view together in She Who Wrote two of the three cylinder seals found against Puabi’s right arm, one from the Penn Museum collection and the other from the British Museum, is an exceptional treat (see page 39).
In the article that follows, adapted from a 2021 version on The Morgan’s blog, co-curator Erhan Tamur describes how the objects in She Who Wrote bear testament to women’s roles in religious contexts as goddesses, priestesses, and worshippers as well as in social, economic, and political spheres as mothers, workers, and rulers. —Amanda Mitchell-Boyask
Above, top: Seated female figure with tablet on lap, Ur III period (ca. 2112–2004 BC), alabaster; Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Vorderasiatisches Museum, acquired 1913; VA 04854. Photo by SMB/ Olaf M. Teßmer. Above: Large gold earrings (10.2 cm x 10.5 cm) found on Queen Puabi in grave 800 of the Royal Cemetery at Ur. Penn Museum, excavated 1927/28; PM B17712B. Opposite page, top: Disk of Enheduanna, Ur (modern Tell el-Muqayyar), gipar, Akkadian period, ca. 2300 BC, alabaster; Penn Museum, excavated 1926; PM B16665. Opposite page, bottom: Choker necklace found at the neck of Queen Puabi in grave 800 of the Royal Cemetery at Ur. Penn Museum, excavated 1927/28; PM B16694.
The first author known by name in history was a woman: Enheduanna. She received this name, which means “high priestess, ornament of heaven” in Sumerian, upon her appointment to the temple of the moon god in Ur, a city in southern Mesopotamia, in present-day Iraq. As the daughter of the Akkadian king Sargon (ca. 2334–2279 BC),
Enheduanna not only exercised considerable religious, political, and economic influence but also left an indelible mark on world literature by composing extraordinary works in Sumerian. Her poetry reflected her deep devotion to the goddess of sexual love and warfare—Inanna in Sumerian, Ishtar in Akkadian. Making Enheduanna its focal point, this exhibition, which I co-curated with Sidney Babcock, brings together a comprehensive selection of artworks that capture rich and shifting expressions of women’s lives in Mesopotamia during the late fourth and third millennia BC. These works bear testament to women’s roles in religious contexts as goddesses, priestesses, and worshippers, as well as in social, economic, and political spheres as mothers, workers, and rulers. The Penn Museum generously loaned Rendering of the exhibition She to The Morgan a spectacular group of Who Wrote with the funerary artworks that speak to several key threads ensemble of Queen Puabi centered. The alabaster plaque that run through the show. depicting Enheduanna, the first The exhibition opens with an named woman author, is to the overview of representations of women right of the funerary ensemble, at back. Rendering view by Stephen from the earliest Mesopotamian cities Saitas Designs. founded around 3500 BC, where writing
Note: while the Penn Museum usually uses the BCE/CE system for time periods, this article follows the exhibition curators’ use of BC/AD system, which they feel gives an opportunity to engage head-on with the prevailing, exclusionary calendar systems and the history and dynamics of their dominance.
Above: Cylinder seal (and modern impression) with two female figures presenting offerings, Early Dynastic IIIa period, ca. 2500 BC, marble; Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Vorderasiatisches Museum, acquired from Elias Solomon David, 1912; VA 03878. Photo by SMB/Olaf M. Teßmer. Right: Uruk Vase, Uruk (modern Warka), Eanna Precinct, Late Uruk–Jemdet Nasr period, ca. 3300–2900 BC; The Iraq Museum, Baghdad, excavated 1933–34; IM 19606. A plaster cast of the vase, loaned from the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Vorderasiatisches Museum, is on view. Photo by Wikimedia.
Head of a female figure, Mesopotamia, Sumerian, Tutub (modern Khafajah), Nintu Temple VI, Early Dynastic IIIa period (2600–2450 BC), Alabaster and bitumen; Penn Museum, excavated 1938; PM 38-10-51.
was invented, and major cult centers were formed. The rise of urban life in these early complex societies highly depended on women’s labor. As skilled workers, they produced textiles, pottery, and various agricultural goods.
Women were also active participants in the realm of religion. Hundreds of Mesopotamian deities, arranged in genealogical hierarchies, were known by name, and each presided over specific aspects of human life. Individuals, communities, cities, and states honored particular patron deities, for whom they constructed special places of worship and carried out elaborate rituals. Women engaged in these religious practices both as priestesses overseeing the cult and the organization of temples and as worshippers bringing offerings to the temples and dedicating images of themselves praying to deities.
The Realm of Inanna
To fully appreciate the role of women in ancient Mesopotamia, one must also look to their divine counterparts, goddesses. The fourth millennium BC marks the earliest symbolic representations of deities. For instance, reed-ring bundles, which served as doorposts in the marshes of southern Mesopotamia, resembled the cuneiform rendering of Inanna’s name and became a visual symbol for her presence. As a warlike goddess, she was fierce and unforgiving, but she supported her favorite kings in battle and legitimized their political power. In fact, the concord between her and the ruler was central to the sustenance of the people, the maintenance of the herds, and the well-being of the land. Simply put, her presence preserved the cycle of life in early Mesopotamia, so clearly displayed in the celebrated Uruk Vase. In the centuries to come, deities began to be represented anthropomorphically, and iconographical conventions were developed to differentiate goddesses and mortal women. Goddesses were shown wearing horned crowns over their voluminous hair, for example, or holding clusters of dates. At times, the crowns are arrayed with branches, feathers, or animal heads; vegetal elements, such as flowers or stems, are occasionally seen above their shoulders— symbolizing fertility and abundance. In addition, particular goddesses began to be represented frontally, with direct gazes that exuded power and authority.
Individual Women and Women of Prominence
Mortal women likewise featured a rich repertoire of hairstyles, garments, and accessories as reflected in their votive portraits. Portraiture in ancient Mesopotamia was more concerned with capturing an individual’s essence than her likeness, and these portraits stood for the depicted individuals in sanctuaries, in proximity to the divine for perpetuity. Two sculptures loaned from the Penn Museum not only reflect the stylistic variety of the time but also showcase the extraordinary attention paid to ensure the sculptures’ longevity: Both artworks demonstrate potential ancient repairs in the form of drilled mortises in the neck, perhaps to reattach the head to its body with the help of bitumen (see page 37). Many of these women took part in economic transactions, oversaw festive banquets, and participated in religious rituals. For instance, a pair of objects shaped like crafting tools record the first woman in history known by name, KAGÍR-gal, who may have been involved in a land sale. Another remarkable work, bearing the earliest known artist’s signature, records the donation of an estate on behalf of a woman named Shara-igizi-Abzu.
Stone scraper and chisel recording the first woman known by name (KA-GÍRgal), Jemdet Nasr–Early Dynastic period, ca. 3000–2750 BC, schist (phyllite), Proto-cuneiform inscriptions; The British Museum, London, 1899; BM 86260 and 86261. Photo courtesy of The Trustees of the British Museum.
Fragment of a vessel with frontal image of goddess, Early Dynastic IIIb period, ca. 2400 BC, basalt, cuneiform inscription in Sumerian; Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Vorderasiatisches Museum, acquired 1914–15; VA 07248. Photo by SMB/Olaf M. Teßmer.
Queen Puabi
The first half of the exhibition ends with one of the most famous personalities from ancient Mesopotamia: Queen Puabi of Ur (ca. 2500 BC). She died at about age forty and was interred in a stone tomb chamber with an elaborate ceremony, which involved the ritual sacrifice of soldiers, musicians, and servants.
The exquisite artworks associated with Puabi are renowned pieces of the permanent collection of the Penn Museum. The Morgan is deeply grateful for the loan of many of these objects. The most spectacular among these is Puabi’s funerary ensemble: Her body, when excavated in 1927, was still adorned with beads of precious stones and other pieces of jewelry, as well as an ornate headdress that represents the earliest perfection of metalworking techniques that are still in use today. In addition, three cylinder seals were found against her upper right arm, attached to three garment pins that secured her cloak. Two of these seals and one of the garment pins are on view in the exhibition. Although women’s seals generally bore inscriptions describing them in relation to their husbands and fathers, Puabi’s seal gives only her own name and title as queen, which suggests that she ruled in her own right.
Clockwise, from left: Queen Puabi’s funerary ensemble, Ur (modern Tell elMuqayyar), Puabi’s Tomb Chamber, on Puabi’s body, Early Dynastic IIIa period, ca. 2500 BC, gold, lapis lazuli, carnelian, silver, and agate; Penn Museum, excavated 1927–28. Two of the three cylinder seals (with modern impression) of Queen Puabi, Mesopotamia, Sumerian, Ur (modern Tell el-Muqayyar), found in Puabi’s Tomb Chamber in the 1927/28 excavation season, against Puabi’s upper right arm, Early Dynastic IIIa period, ca. 2500 BC, both lapis lazuli. Reunited in the exhibition, the top seal is in the collection of the Penn Museum, PM B16728. The bottom seal is in the collection of the British Museum, BM 121544, photo courtesy of The Trustees of the British Museum. Garment pin of Queen Puabi, Mesopotamia, Sumerian, Ur (modern Tell el-Muqayyar), Puabi’s Tomb Chamber, against Puabi’s upper right arm, Early Dynastic IIIa period, ca. 2500 BC, Gold and lapis lazuli; Penn Museum, excavated 1927/28; PM B16729.
Enheduanna: High Priestess, First Author
The second half of the show centers around Enheduanna: her literary works, related images, and her abiding legacy. By the late twenty-fourth century BC, the Akkadian king Sargon (ca. 2334–2279 BC) had united most of Mesopotamia under his authority and paved the way for the world’s first empire, the Akkadian Empire. Its capital, Agade, possibly located close to modern-day Baghdad, has yet to be discovered. Sargon’s appointment of his daughter Enheduanna as the high priestess of the moon god Nanna in Ur was part of his efforts to consolidate his new empire. In Enheduanna’s writings, all in Sumerian despite her Akkadian origins, the Sumerian goddess Inanna was merged with her Akkadian counterpart, Ishtar. Whereas much of ancient Mesopotamian literature is unattributed, Enheduanna introduced herself by name in two of her poems, “The Exaltation of Inanna” and “A Hymn to Inanna.” A third, “Inanna and Ebih,” is ascribed to her due to its style and content. All of these texts come down to us only in copies made centuries after her death.
In “The Exaltation of Inanna,” a well-preserved, one-tablet edition on loan from the Penn Museum, Enheduanna included astonishing autobiographical details such as her struggle against a certain Lugalanne, most likely the historically attested king of Ur, who attempted to forcefully remove her from her office:
Yes, I took up my place in the sanctuary dwelling, I was high priestess, I, Enheduanna. Though I bore the offering basket, though I chanted the hymns, A death offering was ready, was I no longer living? I went towards light, it felt scorching to me, I went towards shade, it shrouded me in swirling dust. A slobbered hand was laid across my honeyed mouth, What was fairest in my nature was turned to dirt. O Moon-god Suen, is this Lugalanne my destiny? Tell heaven to set me free of it! Just say it to heaven! Heaven will set me free! […] When Lugalanne stood paramount, he expelled me from the temple, He made me fly out the window like a swallow, I had had my taste of life, He made me walk a land of thorns. He took away the noble diadem of my holy office, He gave me a dagger: ‘This is just right for Tablet inscribed with you,’ he said. “The Exaltation of Inanna,” Mesopotamia, Nippur (modern Nuffar), Old Translation from Benjamin R. Foster, The Babylonian period, ca. 1750 Age of Agade: Inventing Empire in Ancient BC, Clay; Penn Museum, Mesopotamia. London: Routledge, Taylor Babylonian Expedition Fund, Purchase, 1888; CBS & Francis Group, 2016, 333-34. 7847 + PM 29-15-422.
Enheduanna turned to Inanna for help, as the moon god Nanna, whom she served, remained indifferent to her pleas. Fortunately, Inanna accepted her prayers, and Enheduanna was restored to her office. This poem was the culmination of her struggle, a cry that she no longer could keep inside. In fact, she added a remarkable line about her own creative process, stating that she has “given birth” to this poem:
One has heaped up the coals (in the censer), prepared the lustration. The nuptial chamber awaits you, let your heart be appeased! With ‘it is enough for me, it is too much for me!’ I have given birth, oh exalted lady, (to this song) for you. That which I recited to you at (mid)night May the singer repeat it to you at noon!
Translation from William W. Hallo and J. J. A. van Dijk, The Exaltation of Inanna. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1968, 33.
Enheduanna also compiled short temple hymns that praised various Mesopotamian sanctuaries. There she articulated a unified religious landscape by connecting the temples of southern Mesopotamia with those in the north, perhaps in line with the broader political aspirations of her father. The postscript to the last hymn attributes its compilation to Enheduanna:
The compiler of this tablet is Enheduanna. My king, something has been produced that no person had produced before.
Translation from Charles Halton and Saana Svärd, Women’s Writing of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Anthology of the Earliest Female Authors. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018, 79.
In addition to these extraordinary literary compositions, several artworks referencing her name or image come down to us. The most notable among them comes to our exhibition from the Penn Museum: a disk-shaped alabaster plaque, dedicated to a temple in commemoration of a construction, on which Enheduanna is prominently placed in the middle of the
Above: Wall plaque with priest before the goddess Ninhursag, Girsu (modern Tello), Early Dynastic IIIa period, ca. 2500 BCE, calcite, 6 7/8 × 6 5/16 × 13/16 in. (17.4 × 16 × 2.1 cm); Musée du Louvre, Départment des Antiquités Orientales, Paris, excavated 1881; AO 276. Photo by Franck Raux courtesy of the Musée du Louvre. Below: Reverse side of the Disk of Enheduanna, Ur (modern Tell el-Muqayyar), gipar, Akkadian period, ca. 2300 BC, alabaster; Cuneiform inscription in Sumerian: En-ḫ[e]du-ana, zirru priestess, wife of the god Nanna, daughter of Sargon, [king] of the world, in [the temple of the goddess Inan]na-ZA.ZA in [U]r, made a [soc]le (and) named it: ‘dais, table of (the god) An’; Penn Museum, excavated 1926; PM B16665.
composition. A clay sealing and two seals belonging to individuals in Enheduanna’s entourage identify her by name and testify to her eminent position overseeing many institutions. These seals feature “contest scenes,” a popular theme in Mesopotamian glyptic, showing battling animals, heroes, and hybrid beings. Their struggle is interpreted as one between the wild and the domesticated, the chaotic and the orderly. Although Akkadian-period seals generally isolate the contesting pairs, as exemplified by the spectacular banded chalcedony seal of Šaggullum, seals owned by Enheduanna’s servants retain the friezelike, continuous compositions of earlier periods. This visual continuity with the Sumerian past accords with Enheduanna’s role in her father’s ambition to unify Sumer and Akkad.
Enheduanna’s writings were also essential for the fusion between Inanna and Ishtar, and Ishtar’s eventual eclipsing of Inanna. Ishtar became the foundation of the Akkadian Empire, referred to as the “dynasty of Ishtar” in later historical sources. Enheduanna’s temple hymns culminate with Ishtar’s temple at Agade, and Enheduanna’s overall characterization of the goddess—her propensity for violence, associations with fertility, and superiority within the Mesopotamian pantheon—may even have influenced contemporary visual portrayals. In cylinder seals from the Akkadian period, Ishtar is shown dominating formidable lions and gods while turning toward the viewer. Maces and sickle axes are seen around her shoulders as well as branches bearing fruit. Such images and Enheduanna’s texts worked together to form a powerful and threatening representation of the goddess.
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Motherhood: Birth, Creation, and Nurturing
Enheduanna described herself as a mother to her poem “The Exaltation of Inanna.” The concept of motherhood in her day extended beyond biology to recognize the nurturing provided by wet nurses, midwives, and mothers both human and divine. According to ancient texts, the quintessential Mesopotamian mother goddess, Ninhursag, embodied these various types of motherhood by giving form to
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1. Cylinder seal (and modern impression) with contest scene, Akkadian period, ca. 2200 BC, banded chalcedony; Cuneiform inscription in Sumerian: Puzur-Šullat, šangû priest of BÀD.KI, Šaggullum, the scribe, (is) his servant; The British Museum, London, acquired 1825, ex-collection Claudius James Rich; BM 89147. Photo courtesy of The Trustees of the British Museum. 2. Cylinder seal (and modern impression) with goddesses Ninishkun and Ishtar, Akkadian period (ca. 2334–2154 BC), limestone; Cuneiform inscription: To the deity Niniškun, Ilaknuid, [seal]-cutter, presented (this); The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, acquired 1947; A27903. Photo by Anna R. Ressman, courtesy of The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. 3. Cylinder seal (and modern impression) with mother and child attended by women, Ur (modern Tell el-Muqayyar), PG 871, Akkadian period (ca. 2334–2154 BC), carnelian and gold; Penn Museum, excavated 1928; PM B16924.
Fragment of a standing female figure with clasped hands, Girsu (modern Tello), possibly the reign of Gudea, ruler of Lagash, ca. 2150 BC, chlorite; Musée du Louvre, Départment des Antiquités Orientales, Paris, excavated 1881; AO 295. Photo by Thierry Olivier courtesy of R.M.N.
kings’ bodies, assisting in their births, and serving as their wet nurse. Glyptic imagery from both Sumer and Akkad attests to the many maternal figures that could exist in a child’s life, often demonstrating the pride these figures took in the nurturing they provided. An excellent example comes from the Penn Museum in the form of a carnelian seal with the rare depiction of a mother holding her child in her lap, accompanied by three attendants.
Women Who Came After
The office of the high priestess not only existed prior to Enheduanna’s time, but also remained intact for centuries to come. Many later high priestesses were, like Enheduanna, daughters of rulers and heads of major temples, wielding religious, political, and economic power. They are generally distinguished by their flounced robes, long and loose hairstyles, and characteristic headdresses. Such iconographic features help us identify other figures as high priestesses, such as a female head with deeply cut, piercing eyes found in the sacred precinct at Ur and on loan from the Penn Museum. Another example is an exquisite statuette with a tablet in her lap (see page 35) that encapsulates one of the main threads of the exhibition: women and authorship. Other women of high rank, including members of the royal family, were often depicted
wearing fringed garments and having their hair tied in chignons or other intricate coiffures. The exhibition concludes with a selection of such images from the end of the third millennium BC. The artworks that are brought together in She Who Wrote: Enheduanna and Women of Mesopotamia showcase painstaking artistry and striking stylistic variety in the representation of women, often combining delicately executed naturalism with powerfully expressive stylization. These works have withstood millennia, lending us breathtaking insight into an oftenoverlooked aspect of an ancient patriarchal society: womanhood. Enheduanna’s passionate voice had a lasting impact as her writings continued to be copied in scribal schools for centuries after she died. Uniting a spectacular assortment of her texts and related images for the first time, She Who Wrote celebrates Enheduanna’s timeless poetry and abiding legacy as an author, a priestess, and a woman.
Erhan Tamur received his Ph.D. in art history and archaeology from Columbia University. He is the Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellow at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and a curatorial research associate at the Morgan Library & Museum. He has worked and published on late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century art historical theory, style and ethnicity, and the politics of archaeology.
FOR FURTHER READING
Babcock, S., and E. Tamur (eds.) 2022. She Who Wrote:
Enheduanna and Women of Mesopotamia. New
York: The Morgan Library & Museum.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
She Who Wrote: Enheduanna and Women of Mesopotamia, ca. 3400-2000 B.C. is made possible through the generosity of Jeannette and Jonathan Rosen.
Additional support is provided by an anonymous donor in memory of Dr. Edith Porada, the Andrew W. Mellon Research and Publications Fund, Becky and Tom Fruin, Laurie and David Ying, and by a gift in memory of Max Elghanayan, with assistance from Lauren Belfer and Michael Marissen, and from an anonymous donor.
Analyzing Guastavino Akoustolith Tiles
BY JOSÉ HERNÁNDEZ
SINCE ANTIQUITY, reverberation and echo have been linked to monumental, vaulted spaces. Classical Roman temples and medieval Gothic cathedrals produced a recognizable soundscape. This relationship was considered as natural as gravity. Vaults, domes, coves, pendentives (triangular segments of a spherical surface which support a dome), and other concave surfaces produced a certain soundscape of high reverberation and echo.
At the turn of the 20th century, Harvard professor Wallace Clement Sabine (1868–1919) and master builder Rafael Guastavino Jr. (1872–1950) invented an artificial stone that was structural, imitated traditional masonry, and absorbed the mid- and high frequencies of the human voice in large, vaulted interiors. Branded as Akoustolith tile, the stone was bonded to the selfsupporting vaults of interlocking structural clay tiles that Guastavino popularized at the turn of the 20th century. The Akoustolith consisted of well-sorted pumice particles bonded with Portland cement at close points of contact, creating a network of voids that absorbed excessive reverberation. This network of voids transformed the kinetic energy of the frequencies between middle C (261 Hz) and three octaves above middle C (349 Hz) into heat that dissipated within the stone. The Akoustolith enjoyed tremendous success as a corrective to excessive reverberation in vaulted
spaces of major cultural institutions in America during the early 20th century, including the Penn Museum.
Last spring, I joined a cohort of Penn graduate students taking Dr. Marie-Claude Boileau’s course CLST 7311: Petrography of Cultural Materials, an advanced class where students conducted original and independent scientific research on archaeological projects. My research included an in-depth study of the Guastavino Akoustolith used in the ceiling of the Coxe (Egyptian) Wing at the Penn Museum. Completed in 1924, the Coxe Wing featured a barrel-vaulted ceiling with Guastavino tiles on the upper-level galleries. Guastavino specified Akoustolith tile to be used on the interior soffit of these vaults, delivering a quiet soundscape for museum visitors.
Using transmitted polarized light microscopy, I analyzed several thin sections of the Guastavino assembly (a fragment of Guastavino vaulting with Akoustolith tile) from the Coxe Wing ceiling. The mineralogical composition and
Section through the Coxe Wing roof with Akoustolith tile as soffit (magenta). Image from the Guastavino Fireproof Construction Company architectural records, 1866–1985, courtesy of Avery Architectural Fine Arts Library, Columbia University.
Above: A fragment of Guastavino vaulting with Akoustolith tile from the ceiling of the Coxe Wing, Penn Museum; EP-2010-7-423; photo by Marie-Claude Boileau. Right: Cross-polarized view (left) and plane-polarized light (right) of a thin section of Akoustolith stone showing the interconnected air voids (AV) created by Italian pumice grains (P) bonded with Portland cement (C). Some inclusions (magenta arrows) share the same mafic volcanic origin as the pumice. Photo by the Center for the Analysis of Archaeological Materials.
microstructure of all the components of the Guastavino ceiling—structural clay tiles (423A1–A2), mortar (423B), and Akoustolith tile (423C)—provided invaluable information on the origin of the clay, workmanship practices, the degree of adhesion of the assembly, and observed deterioration mechanisms.
The analysis revealed that the Akoustolith used at the Cox Wing varied in the microstructure from the original 1915 patent. These insights and observations informed my thesis, Vaults Speak: A History and Material Analysis of Guastavino Akoustolith Tiles (MSc in Historic Preservation, 2022), where I investigated the relationship between compressive strength and porosity. Based on my research, I recommended improvements to the original formula, including sealing the pores of the bedding face of Akoustolith tiles to increase adhesion to the Guastavino vaulting.
José Hernández, GFA22, is the Lab Manager of the Architectural Conservation Laboratory, University of Pennsylvania.
AKOUSTOLITH TILE, manufactured by R. Guastavino Co., was first used in the Harrison Wing Rotunda and Auditorium, opened in 1915—a decade before the Coxe (Egyptian) Wing. Architectural plans for the Rotunda incorporated a large lecture hall as the University’s need for such a space was so great. To eliminate pillars in the auditorium, which would have obstructed the view of the stage, the architects re-engineered the building using the Guastavino construction, new at that time but a revival of an ancient method. Location of Akoustolith tile as a soffit
A December 1915 article in The Museum Journal layer to the larger Guastavino timbrel arch describes the result: “The engineering achievement construction assembly, Coxe Wing, Penn Museum; image by the author. was the tremendous 90-foot span of the floor, providing a column-less auditorium of near-perfect acoustics.”
Other noted domed locations created with Guastavino tiles are the Registry Room on Ellis Island, the Oyster Bar and Whispering Gallery at Grand Central Station, and the Bronx Zoo Elephant House all in New York City.
The Ksâr´Akil Rockshelter: A Corridor of Change and Innovation
BY AYLAR ABDOLAHZADEH AND SARAH LINN
The Museum Assistantship Program was started with the goal of pairing Penn Museum projects in need of research assistance with qualified Penn graduate students from relevant departments. Since Fall of 2019, the program has funded 23 students to work on 20 projects throughout the academic year. The projects range from designing an exhibition about the history of the Anthropology Department, to intensive collections research, to creating a new tour all about food. Each project fills a need for the Museum and provides graduate students from departments and programs including Anthropology, Art and Archaeology of the Mediterranean World, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, and Africana Studies with research experience and professional development opportunities.
What follows is a case study of one student’s experience working closely with Katherine Blanchard, Fowler-Van Santfoord Keeper, Near East Section, on cataloging and digitizing lithic material to make it available to the public.
Right, top: Aylar Abdolahzadeh working on the Ksar Akil lithics in the study room at Penn Museum. Photo by Breyasia Scott. Right, bottom: View of the Ksâr´Akil rockshelter during the Tixier excavation in 1975; photo by Prof. Marcel Otte.
AS PART OF THE MUSEUM ASSISTANTSHIP
PROGRAM, I was invited to work on the Ksâr ´Akil lithic collection from Lebanon with the goal of reintroducing the Ksâr ´Akil lithic artifacts to a broad audience through an online catalog.
The Ksâr ´Akil rockshelter is located in the northern tributary of the Wadi Antelias River Valley, about 10 km northeast of Beirut, in central Lebanon, and 2 km from the present Mediterranean coast. Reintroducing the Ksâr ´Akil lithic collection is important for several reasons. First, the geological location of the Ksâr ´Akil rockshelter in the Levant is significant because archaeological evidence has showed the presence of modern humans (H. sapiens) at this rockshelter around 45,900 years ago at a time when modern humans were migrating from Africa into Eurasia through the Levantine corridor. All stone artifacts, such as scrapers and small points excavated from this site, represent cultural technological innovations and connectivity with adjacent regions. Second, the study of the Ksâr ´Akil lithic collection is important because these collections were distributed to several museums and institutes around the USA as well as the Institute of Archaeology in London based on the protocol of the time (1930s–1940s) for academic studies. Therefore, through cataloging these lithic artifacts, we reintroduce researchers to this collection at the Penn Museum and make information available to the public.
The first systematic excavations at Ksâr ´Akil, funded by Boston College, MA, began in 1937, but was halted by end of 1938 due to the Second World War. A new season of excavation began in 1947 and ended in 1948. A French team led by Jacques Tixier re-excavated the site’s upper layers from 1969–1975; unfortunately political unrest in the 1970s led to the loss of parts of their findings and excavation notes, making the most complete and available source of information and materials those of the excavations funded by Boston College.
As part of the Penn Museum assistantship lithic project, I began by identifying the lithics by their artifact types, describing their technological and other features, and assigning them numbers within a series. The lithics were then photographed by Katherine Blanchard, and both the images and the data were uploaded into the database by Daniela Bono for public and academic access.
What I found is that modern humans scraped animal bones using specific stone artifacts, such as scrapers, blades (long, parallel-sided artifacts), and burins (“chisels”), to produce awls and bone points. The Ksâr ´Akil scrapers might have been also used for preparing hides or peeling plant roots. This indicates that people at Ksâr ´Akil rockshelter were innovative in making and using tools.
For me, working on the Ksâr ´Akil lithics was significant because we were able to move beyond the legacy of past protocols by developing a modern and systematic database, where these data can provide comprehensive information about this lithic archive in terms of technology, artifact types, and stone raw materials for future research, as well as improve its visibility and accessibility for public and educational purposes. Professionally, analyzing the lithics from Ksâr ´Akil improved my understanding of modern human behaviors, especially in the context of out-of-Africa migrations during prehistory. Working on museum collections such as this one captures how cultural connectivity through humans’ interactions is a significant behavioral legacy of the past that benefits us today.
Turkey
Syria
Jordan Iraq
Turkey
10 mi Syria Jordan
Geographic location of Ksâr ́Akil in relation to Beirut (inset) and the wider Levantine regions.
Aylar Abdolahzadeh is a graduate student in the Department of Anthropology with an upcoming postdoctoral appointment at Arizona State University; Sarah Linn, Ph.D., is Interim Director of Academic Engagement.
Bringing Cross-Cultural Learning to Philadelphia Classrooms
BY JENNIFER BREHM, RORUJORONA FERRELL, AND HAIBIN WECHSLER
Thousands of school students each year participate in a global education program called International Classroom. The International Classroom program started in the 1960s to bring international student educators to Philadelphia area K–12 classrooms with the intention of encouraging cross-cultural learning. The program continues today to help students better understand cultures other than their own by hearing presenters share their personal experiences and cultural traditions. The International Classroom program plays a significant role in improving intercultural relations to counter stereotypes and students’ misunderstandings about other nations and their traditions. International Classroom reaches students in grades 3–12 both in the Museum and at schools.
Haibin Wechsler is one of the educators working in this dynamic program. Born in Shanghai, China, Haibin immigrated to the United States while in high school. She joined the program after studying for her master’s degree in Education in Intercultural Communication at Penn’s Graduate School of Education. Global Education Manager Rorujorona Ferrell invited Haibin to share her perspective on the impact of International Classroom.
RF: What is International Classroom like?
HW: International Classroom is a terrific program that brings together people with diverse cultural backgrounds. In my case, I introduce Chinese cultural traditions to audiences of different ages such as elementary school students and seniors in adult communities. It is an excellent venue for intercultural communication to take place.
I teach a workshop for younger grades called “Legendary Creatures of China”. Students go into the Penn Museum’s China Gallery, see artifacts with animals such as lions and horses, and learn about how animals have certain meanings in Chinese culture. Then, in a hands-on workshop, they study one of four animals— dragon, horse, panda, or lion—in more depth and do a short presentation about what they have learned.
Older students learn how Buddhism shifted Chinese culture, customs, and religion. Students discuss the ideas of cultural appreciation and appropriation by evaluating contemporary images of Buddhism in popular culture. For example, what happens if you wear traditional Chinese clothing for Halloween or at a prom? Students talk about the differences between appropriation and appreciation in these situations.
Haibin Wechsler photographed in the Penn Museum’s Asia Galleries
RF: What is the best part of the International Classroom program?
HW: There are so many good parts of the program. The most impressive takeaway for me as an educator is how rewarding the whole experience has been. There
Haibin Wechsler teaching a class as part of the International Classroom Program.
has been so much positive feedback and response from the program’s audiences, especially when a grant from the Freeman Foundation allowed us the opportunity to reach out to Philadelphia Title 1 schools to offer a free program, Inquiry Into China. These schools struggle to pay for these kinds of programs without funding. Students have limited knowledge of Chinese culture and limited access to Chinese educators. They are so excited to see me there and to learn about Chinese culture. Their enthusiasm is so infectious, and I feel very welcome in their classrooms because they are so receptive. They tell me afterwards what words they have learned and what they were excited about from the lesson.
International Classroom provides a wonderful opportunity to address challenging issues such as prejudice and racism in the classroom and in society around us. Students have asked me about the origins of COVID and sometimes have vocalized racist terms about the Chinese. The International Classroom program has allowed me the opportunity to answer students’ questions and to correct these misunderstandings.
RF: What should teachers know about International Classroom?
HW: Teachers should know that this program is a great vehicle for their students to learn about diverse cultures, especially Chinese culture. It allows teachers and students to connect with someone from that culture to share their individual experiences. This is more impactful than reading about another culture in a textbook or even watching a video.
Jennifer Brehm is Merle-Smith Director of Learning and Community Engagement; Rorujorona Ferrell is Global Education Manager; Haibin Wechsler is an International Classroom Educator and a Global Guide.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
International Classroom is made possible by the International Classroom Endowment and the Charles C. Harrison Endowment. With generous support from the Freeman Foundation, Penn Museum offers the Inquiry to China programs for free for a limited number of Philadelphia’s Title 1 classrooms. To request a program, please contact www.penn.museum/sites/k12 or ic@pennmuseum.org.
Gifts of Objects Enhance American and Asian Section Collections
BY AVA CAPPITELLI
AT ITS JUNE 2022 MEETING, the Penn Museum Acquisitions Committee voted unanimously to accept three collections of objects and four collections of archival records. All three of the collections of objects were especially meaningful because of the donors’ longstanding connections with the Museum and will enrich our understanding of musical, agricultural, and religious traditions across continents.
A gift of 16 objects to the American Section comes from the estate of Joseph J. Rishel, legendary Curator of European Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA), originally in the collection of his late wife, PMA Director Anne d’Harnoncourt. Many were passed to her by her father, René d’Harnoncourt, former director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA) and frequent guest on the Penn Museum’s weekly half-hour television show What in the World? ®, which ran from 1951 to 1965. The elder d’Harnoncourt was a champion of the arts of Indigenous populations in the 1940s and 50s through his positions as head of the Indian Arts & Craft Board and at MoMA.
The Rishel/d’Harnoncourt collection includes rare pieces of Indigenous American jewelry, including pieces that Anne d’Harnoncourt often wore from the Zuni and Navajo peoples that are stunning examples of silver casting technique and of joining small pieces of stone and shell. “[Zuni Pueblo] tradition connects back to the jewelry of their Pueblo ancestors recovered in the archaeological record at places like Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, ca.1100 CE,” notes Lucy Fowler William, Associate Curator in the American section.
The objects passed down from René d’Harnoncourt include Meso-American stone figurines that he acquired in travels to places including Mexico City and Chile. These artifacts carry stories related to the development of American modernism during the first half of the 20th century through art forms distinct from that of Europe at the time. “The inclusion of objects that he
Quechua Chakitaqlla or foot plow made by Fidel Vilca, 1981, Peru or Bolivia; gift of Clark Erickson; 2022-5-5.
owned and lived with into our collections will allow us to talk about that legacy and his great admiration for the Indigenous artistic traditions of North, Central, and South America,” says American Section Keeper Bill Wierzbowski. A second gift to the American Section comes from Curator Emeritus Clark Erickson, also Professor Emeritus in the Department of Anthropology, acquired during his work in Bolivia and Peru, where he specialized in the use of intensive agricultural techniques in the ancient Andean region. The collection includes three Tarka wood flutes acquired in Bolivia in the 1970s, which share the rich, living musical tradition of the region. It also includes a smallscale, palm fiber Manioc press acquired in Iquitos, Peru—an excellent example of an old and critically important object used to squeeze out and remove natural toxins in manioc to make it edible. The final object in the Erickson gift is a Quechua Chakitaqlla or foot plow he commissioned from maker Fidel Vilca in 1981: an important and unique addition to the collection as a modern example of an ancient tool still used in Peru and Bolivia today to transform the rugged landscape for farming. The third gifted collection is from Bruce Pearson, in honor of his late wife Dr. Lee Horne, who was a Research Associate in the Museum’s Asian Section and Museum Applied Science Center for Archaeology (MASCA) and editor of Expedition from 1991 to 1996. The collection comprises seven brass castings collected by Dr. Horne as part of her ethnoarchaeological fieldwork on Indian metallurgical traditions in the 1980s and 1990s. The Indian brass artisans whom she acquired these from came to the Penn Museum for demonstrations on casting techniques as part of her project and were featured in Expedition’s special issue devoted to
Single strand Zuni fetish necklace of turquoise heishi beads and a world of twenty-seven small animal fetish carvings made of many kinds of stone and shell including turquoise, coral, jet, abalone, “Crafts of India” in 1987 (Vol. 29-3). Her accompanying and serpentine; gift of Anne d’Harnoncourt documentation accompanies the objects and is now and Joseph J. Rishel; housed in the Penn Museum Archives. 2022-9-16. Asian Section Curators Kathleen Morrison and Adam Smith appreciate these objects both for their scholarly merit and as visually impressive works of art, describing them as “truly amazing” examples of their kind, and envision them in a future exhibit on religious traditions.
Oil lamp of Panchdipa Lakshmi, the goddess of light, riding an elephant. She holds a kalasha, or oil pitcher, on her head. Gift of Bruce Pearson, in honor of Lee Horne; 2022-7-5.
Ava Cappitelli is a junior at Bryn Mawr College majoring in the History of Art. As the Penn Museum Marketing & Communications Intern in summer 2022, she assisted in editing Expedition and designed content for the Museum’s social media. She also presented a Daily Dig program on Middle Eastern ceramics.
The Harriet Tubman Museum in Cape May, New Jersey
BY JANE HICKMAN
UNDER DANGEROUS CIRCUMSTANCES, with “slave catchers” close behind, the men and women of the Underground Railroad risked death to lead the enslaved out of brutal conditions and on to new lives. One of the most famous conductors on the Railroad—a collection of secret trails and safe houses—was Harriet Tubman, known to the abolitionist movement as “The Moses of Her People.” During the 1850s, she led hundreds of people, in small groups, over routes she had memorized, through forests, fields, and dense thickets to freedom. In case they got separated, she taught her followers to find their way at night by the North Star. It is also likely she directed enslaved people to travel by boat across the Delaware Bay from Lewes, Delaware to Cape May, as New Jersey was a Free State. From there, many continued north to New York or Canada.
Tubman received financial support from antislavery groups. To help pay for her rescues, she also worked as a cook and housekeeper for three summers during the early 1850s for families and hotels in Cape May. This seaside town was known at the time for its abolitionist sentiments. A founder of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, Stephen Smith, built a summer home in Cape May. And the Banneker House, one of the best hotels for free Black people, was located there.
During the Civil War, Harriet Tubman worked for the Union as a cook and a nurse. In 1863, she led a military action with 150 African American soldiers to rescue over 700 enslaved people in an operation called the Combahee Ferry Raid. She was the first woman to lead such a large military campaign. After slavery was outlawed, she spoke in support of women’s rights and
Above: The Harriet Tubman Museum in Cape May is the former parsonage of the Macedonia Baptist Church; photo by the Harriet Tubman Museum. Left: The traveling monument “Harriet Tubman: The Journey to Freedom” by sculptor Wesley Wofford, was exhibited in Cape May from June to September 2021. Courtesy of the Wesley Wofford Studio.
—Harriet Tubman
for the Women’s Suffrage Movement. She spent her last years in a home she founded for “Aged and Indigent Negroes” in Auburn, New York.
A new museum commemorating Harriet Tubman opened on Juneteenth (June 19) in 2021 in Cape May in the Howell House, the former parsonage of the Macedonia Baptist Church. The parsonage had been vacant for almost 40 years. The museum depicts the life and work of Harriet Tubman and the abolitionist movement in Cape May. A timeline describes important events and individuals associated with the rich history of the local African American community. Many of the objects in the museum, including shackles that date from the 1800s, were collected by Reverend Robert O. Davis, former pastor of the Macedonia Baptist Church. Other objects were donated by 86-year-old Emily Dempsey, a 4th-generation African American resident of Cape May. One of Dempsey’s prized possessions was an 1870s edition of abolitionist William Still’s The Underground Railroad. Still was a free Black man from Burlington County, New Jersey; he later lived at 625 S. Delhi Street in the Philadelphia neighborhood now known as Bella Vista.
The Harriet Tubman Museum is located at 632 Lafayette Street, Cape May, NJ 08204. For more information about the museum and to confirm hours of operation, see info@harriettubmanmuseum. org. Reservations are strongly recommended and are available at https://htmtickets.eventbrite.com/ Admission to the Museum is by timed entry on the hour, $10 plus applicable ticket processing fees for adults, $5 plus applicable fees for children 10 and under. A tour of the museum is included with admission.
Jane Hickman, Ph.D., is the former editor of Expedition. She lives in Cape May and is writing a book on Early Minoan jewelry.
Harriet Tubman (ca. 1823–1913) was born into slavery on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, just over the Delaware Bay from Cape May. She risked her life to escape to the north in 1849. Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.
FOR FURTHER READING
Bradford, S. 2004 (1886). Harriet Tubman: The Moses of
Her People. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications. Larson, K.C. 2004. Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet
Tubman, Portrait of an American Hero. New York:
Random House. Perrin, P. 1999. The Underground Railroad: Life on the Road to Freedom. Carlisle, MA: Discovery
Enterprises. Still, W. 2019 (1878). The Underground Railroad Records:
Narrating the Hardships, Hairbreadth Escapes, and Death Struggles of Slaves in their Efforts for
Freedom. New York: Modern Library. Harriet. 2019. Movie available on Amazon Prime.
New Director of Collections
THE PENN MUSEUM was pleased to welcome Laura Hortz Stanton as Director of Collections on September 12. A nationally recognized educator and leader on conservation, preservation, and collections management, Laura was previously Executive Director of Philadelphia’s Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts (CCAHA). Founded in 1977, CCAHA is one of the leading conservation organizations in the United States—serving museums, libraries, archives, all levels of government, and other entities. Laura joined the CCAHA staff in 2005, serving first as Preservation Specialist before advancing as the Director of Preservation Services, and then, in 2014, Executive Director.
Laura is the co-chair of the Storytelling and Preservation working groups for Held in Trust, an initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Foundation for the Advancement in Conservation (FAIC), tasked with evaluating the preservation of cultural heritage in the U.S. She is also a member of FAIC’s National Heritage Responders, which responds to emergencies and disasters across the country.
She has served on the Leadership Nominating Committee of the American Association of State and Local History (AASLH) and was part of the Member Designation Working Group of the American Institute for Conservation.
Laura received her M.A. from the Museum Studies Program at the Cooperstown Graduate Program and her B.A. in Anthropology and Archaeology from Temple University.
Outside of work Laura can be found spending time with her family, which includes her husband Patrick, their sons Teddy (12) and Eli (8), and their cat Buddy. Her first encounter with the Penn Museum was during a fourth-grade class trip—an experience that left a lifelong mark, sparking her curiosity about the world.
Summer Campers Dig Archaeology
IN EIGHT WEEKS from late June through mid-August, 335 grade school-aged campers enjoyed hands-on interactive workshops, talks with Penn researchers, games of Gaga in the courtyards, and safely globetrotting across time and space in the galleries—from Ancient Egypt, Rome, and Greece to North America to Asia—in the Penn Museum’s Anthropology Camp.
According to Assistant Director, Family & Camp Programs Allie Krisch, 53 percent of these campers attended more than one week of camp, with a small percentage attending at least four weeks. The Penn Museum thanks its incredible camp team members who encouraged campers to make messes while creating projects, answered endless questions while encouraging campers to find answers in stories and lessons, and played many, many games of Mancala and Uno during extended care.
It takes a village: the 2022 Penn Museum Summer Camp staff with Allie Krisch, Assistant Director, Family & Camp Programs, fourth from left in light blue shirt.
Penn Museum Garners Awards
THE PENN MUSEUM WAS PLEASED to be named best “2022 Museum You Need to Visit” by Philadelphia magazine in its annual BEST OF PHILLY awards, and to win the competitive “Best Overall Social Media Content” for its innovative campaign for The Stories We Wear exhibition from Social Media Day PHL and the Philadelphia Business Journal.
Left: The Marketing & Communications team at the Philadelphia Business Journal awards. Left to right, Kellie O’Brien, Jill DiSanto, Jo Tiongson-Perez, Gaia Faigon, Tina Jones, and Colleen Connolly. Above, from left: Visitor Services Manager Cynthia Whybark, Chief Diversity Officer Tia Jackson-Truitt, Director of Public Relations Jill DiSanto, Associate Director for Group Sales Amanda Grady, and Director of Facilty Rentals Atiya German celebrate the Penn Museum’s Best of Philly award at the awards party.
Conservation of Works of Art on Paper
TWO GENEROUS GRANTS from the Sumitomo Foundation have made possible conservation and rehousing of watercolor paintings of Japanese artifacts made for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Acquired from the Tokyo National Museum during the fair, these watercolors were originally painted by the artist Goseda Horyu II. They depict archaeological sites and artifacts from the Stone Age to the Kofun Period such as a haniwa figure, a kofun tomb, and sarcophagi. The Penn Museum partnered with the Philadelphia-based Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts (CCAHA), which specializes in works of art on paper, for treatment and rehousing of the pieces. The treatment of the paintings included cleaning, reduction of tidelines and staining, repairs of tears using mulberry paper and wheat starch paste, filling of areas of loss, humidification and flattening, and rehousing. Each painting was placed into a storage folder constructed with a double-wall, corrugated alkaline paper board backing and alkaline paper board cover.
The treatment and rehousing of these paintings will greatly enhance the ability of researchers and Penn students to study them in close proximity, allowing their historical and cultural significance to be better understood by local and international scholars and perhaps even published. The paintings will be digitized as part of the post-treatment documentation, providing access to the paintings for researchers unable to travel to Philadelphia, and the paintings are now stable enough for display at the Penn Museum or to be loaned to other institutions for exhibition.
Penn Museum and the CCAHA have collaborated on several conservation projects. Director of Collections and former CCAHA Executive Director Laura Horst Stanton notes in particular a 2009–2011 project funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, to treat and rehouse an important collection of 195 illustrations of Maya pottery and archaeological sites by Mary Louise Baker. Baker was employed as Museum Artist from Watercolor of a Maya 1908 to 1936, before the advent of vessel by Mary Louise Curtis Baker; PM Image easy and accurate color photography 165047. such reproductions illustrated aspects of the finds otherwise not easily conveyed. Among a small group of artists whose precise recording became an essential part of the archaeological record, she came to be recognized as an outstanding practitioner of this unique art form.
Watercolor by Goseda Horyu II before (above) and after treatment; PM 21.192.2.
State Department Visitors
IN MAY 2022 the Penn Museum was pleased to welcome Lee Satterthwaite, Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, and Brian Nichols, Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs and former U.S. Ambassador to Peru to learn about the breadth of the Museum’s collections and its engagement in international cultural heritage research and preservation, specifically, the work of the Penn Cultural Heritage Center and cultural heritage led by Richard Zettler, Associate Curator-in-Charge, Near East Section, with Michael Danti in northern Iraq.
In July 2022 U.S. Ambassador to Turkey and former Senator Jeffry L. Flake and his wife Cheryl visited the team working at Gordion, Turkey, the ancient site of King Midas, and enjoyed a tour of the site from Director of the Gordion Archaeological Project and Ferry Curator-in-Charge of the Mediterranean Section Brian Rose.
New Grants
GRANTS FROM GOVERNMENT AGENCIES will advance the Penn Museum’s mission this academic year. A new award from the National Endowment for the Humanities supports Unpacking the Past, the Museum’s flagship partnership with the School District of Philadelphia serving middle school students studying ancient cultures. A significant grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services will advance digitization of 21 archival collections in high demand by researchers from several of the Museum’s famed early archaeological excavations including at Piedras Negras (Guatemala), Kourion (Cyprus), and in Egypt at Giza, Memphis, Dendera, and the Dra Abu el-Naga necropolis at Thebes. A National Leadership Grant, also from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, will build the capacity of the Penn Cultural Heritage Center’s Cultural Property Experts on Call program (CPEOC).
Top: Lee Satterthwaite with (center) Chris Woods and (right) Penn Cultural Heritage Center Executive Director Richard Leventhal. Bottom: Jeff and Cheryl Flake examine excavated finds at the Gordion dig house with Director of the Gordion Archaeological Project Brian Rose.
Top: Seán Hemingway shares with Visionaries how this ancient Roman figural relief sculpture, carved from a single block of marble, combines the stories of Narcissus and Echo with that of the abduction of the hero Hylas as he was fetching water for the Argonauts; photo by Amanda Mitchell-Boyask. Bottom: View of the East Room of J. Pierpont Morgan’s Library; Photography by Graham S. Haber, 2010.
Member Events, Enjoyed and Invited
PENN MUSEUM VISIONARIES TAKE NEW YORK
On April 29 Visionaries joined Brian Rose, Ferry Curator in Charge, Mediterranean Section, and Williams Director Chris Woods in New York City for full day of curated programming. The day began in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Greek and Roman Galleries with a special tour from Seán Hemingway, John A. and Carole O. Moran Curator in Charge. After lunch at a local restaurant, the group then enjoyed a tour of the special exhibition Pompeii in Color: The Life of Roman Painting at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World from Associate Director of Exhibitions and Galleries Clare Fitzgerald.
On October 27, Visionaries are invited to tour She Who Wrote: Enheduanna and Women of Mesopotamia, ca. 3400–2000 BC at The Morgan Library & Museum with co-curator Sidney Babcock, Jeannette and Jonathan Rosen Curator and Department Head, Ancient Western Asian Seals & Tablets, which includes loaned Penn Museum artifacts including the famed funerary ensemble of Queen Puabi and the “Disc of Enheduanna,” high priestess and poet (see page 38).
BETTER TOGETHER: SPRING 2022 LEADERSHIP DINNER
On May 3, the Penn Museum was delighted to welcome members of the Loren Eiseley Circle, Visionaries, and leadership volunteers for the first inperson annual Leadership Dinner since 2019. Guests enjoyed cocktails in the Warden Garden before an update on the transformation of Penn’s campus and the Museum from Executive Vice President Craig Carnaroli and Williams Director Chris Woods, and dinner in the upper Egyptian Gallery.
EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN GALLERY: MEMBERS SEE IT FIRST!
Penn Museum members are invited to be among the first to see the reimagined Eastern Mediterranean Gallery and explore more than 400 artifacts representing a crossroads of cultural exchange.
Visionaries and Supporting Circle Members
(Loren Eiseley Circle, Fellows, and Patrons) are invited to a reception and gallery preview with the curators on Tuesday, November 15 from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM.
All members are invited to celebrate the opening of the Eastern Mediterranean Gallery at our after-hours Member Preview on Friday, November 18 from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM where you can tour at your own pace among minimal crowds, and enjoy coffee, tea, and light bites. Or use your Members’ free admission to enjoy our two-day opening weekend, November 19–20, featuring family friendly hands-on workshops, performances, pop-up talks from our Museum experts and more!
Top: Members (left to right) Mark Curchack, Nicholas and Anna Hadgis, and Ann and David Brownlee enjoy cocktails in the Warden Garden at the Leadership Dinner; photo by Eddy Marenco. Bottom: Rendering of the Eastern Mediterranean Gallery entering from the Rome Gallery by the Penn Museum Exhibits Team.
Member Spotlight: Jean Walker, SW74
Longtime Penn Museum Egyptian Section volunteer Jean Walker— recognized as the Museum’s Volunteer of the Year in 2016—is also a loyal member of the Penn Museum Visionaries and the earliest supporter of the Building Transformation. She shares her volunteer experience, her fascination with Egypt, and what excites her most about the coming Egypt and Nubia Galleries.
Jean Walker, SW74, with David Silverman, Curator-in-Charge, Egyptian Section, in the Harrison Auditorium seats Jean named for members of the Section.
I HAVE BEEN VERY HONORED to have been working at the Penn Museum for over 20 years. I had the pleasure of helping renowned Egyptologists, Ph.D. students, and Penn undergraduates. I began in the Egyptian Section in 1996 as the photographer, succeeding longtime volunteer Section photographer Felix Korsyn. I worked with other volunteers in the section. The volunteers were led by Jim Flanigan, who had volunteered at the Museum for many, many years and at one time was the supervisor of 12 volunteers known as the “Mummy Dusters.” Through all their efforts, I believe, the storage area was very organized. Jim only left his post at the age of 87 because of failing health; he died shortly afterwards. Jim taught me so much about the artifacts and the protocol of the storage area and managing the artifacts. As time moved on, I continued as photographer, but my responsibilities increased to assistant keeper of collections.
I was always interested in Ancient Egypt. I remember always wanting to go to the adult section of the town library, as that’s where the books on Egypt were, and not being allowed until I was 12. I first had time to volunteer after I had left my social work position with the City of Philadelphia and had run my own business for 12 years.
As section photographer, I was invited to join first David Silverman’s dig at Saqqara in 2001 and then the same year to join Josef Wegner’s dig at Abydos. This was absolutely a dream come true—to live and work in Egypt on digs, climbing down rope ladders to work underground in a tomb, viewing artifacts not seen for thousands of years and taking their photo. What more could you ask? I did all this as I entered my 60s, going on four digs from 2001 to 2007.
I am so excited to see the new galleries, especially to see the palace and the huge pieces out there for people to look at and get a sense of what it’s like if you were in Egypt looking at the monuments. I think all the cases of smaller objects are important, too, but to me, looking at many of the palace pieces installed in one place is so monumental.
PENN MUSEUM SHOP
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STOLEN LEGACY
Music and Libretto by Hannibal Lokumbe January 14, 2023 | 2:00 pm
Commissioned by the Penn Museum, composer and jazz trumpeter Hannibal Lokumbe presents Stolen Legacy—a musical commentary. The lyrics, sung in Yoruban, are inspired by individual artifacts that long to return to the cultures which produced them on the African continent.
“All we truly own in our lives is what we share with others. What then could be more inhumane than the taking of the work of an artist ‘By hook or by crook?’ For not only is the image taken, so is the culture which produced the art. Often when money is exchanged for the art, the art is stolen to an even greater degree than if it were stolen outright. The exchange of money for art created expressly for the spiritual maintenance of a tribe and/or nation can create a lasting physiological wound to the culture from which it was removed. Nowhere is this more evident than in the case of African Art. Art speaks to the legacy of a people. And those who have no regard for that legacy are no less thieves of the highest order.” —Hannibal Lokumbe
