Visiting the 6,500-year-old Human Skeleton at the Penn Museum |
|
, |
 |
Close-up of the upper body and skull. The teeth are well preserved. Photo by Kyle Cassidy, 2014. |
The rare, fragile, largely intact 6,500-year-old human skeleton—from the famous Ur excavations in what is now Iraq—that was rediscovered in a Penn Museum storage room through a digital documentation project is now in the Museum’s In the Artifact Lab. The skeleton is on partial view while on a working table inside the glass-enclosed lab space, with some images and information provided on a video screen.
As soon as conservators complete their work documenting, cleaning and stabilizing the skeleton, it will move to a display case in front of the lab; then visitors will have an opportunity to get a very up-close view.
While the skeleton is inside In the Artifact Lab and later on display, visitors will watch Museum conservators at work on ancient Egyptian mummies—as well as artifacts from the Egyptian Section and other collections and have opportunities to meet with a physical anthropologist or informed physical anthropology students to ask questions: Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 1-2 p.m.
The skeleton will stay on view through Saturday, October 18, when the Museum celebrates International Archaeology Day with a host of family activities and a chance to visit the new Center for the Analysis of Archaeological Materials.
Also for those who want to find out more, Dr. William Hafford, Ur digitization project manager, posted a blog entry on Beyond the Gallery Walls, the Penn Museum’s blog, with additional information about the skeleton and its history, http://www.penn.museum/blog/museum/ur-digitization-project-august-2014/ |
