So You Wanna Be an Archaeologist?
Penn Museum Marks International Archaeology Day
with Focus on Ancient Italy, Modern Archaeology Laboratories Day-Long Event: Part of Ciao Philadelphia, the Italian Cultural Month |
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To all aspiring archaeologists, Viva l’Italia!
So You Wanna Be an Archaeologist?—Penn Museum’s all-ages celebration of International Archaeology Day, shines a spotlight on ancient Italy, and modern scientific studies, Saturday, October 15, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., in the Penn Museum galleries, with special behind-the-scenes tours of research rooms and activities in the Museum’s Center for the Analysis of Archaeological Materials (CAAM). Activities abound for children and adults, from an Indiana Jones-style obstacle course to “Ask an Archaeologist” conversations, storytelling, group and individual mosaic making, Rome gallery tours—even a chance to enlist in an ancient Roman militia!
So You Wanna Be an Archaeologist? is co-sponsored by Ciao Philadelphia, the Consulate General of Italy in Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Society of the Archaeological Institute of America. The event is free with Museum admission ($15, general admission; $13, seniors [65+]; $10, children [6–17] and full-time students [with ID]; $2 ACCESS Card holders; free to children under 5, Penn Museum members, active US Military, STAMP and PennCard holders). |
Inside CAAM: The Center for the Analysis of Archaeological Materials
Guests can meet some of the expert instructors mentoring archaeology students through the Museum’s Center for the Analysis of Archaeological Materials, a multimillion-dollar set of teaching labs and facilities that opened in 2014. Behind-the-scenes CAAM tours depart every 15 minutes beginning at 1 p.m. and continuing until 4 p.m. (limited availability, by signup). Guests have an opportunity to learn about the usually behind-the-scenes research that takes place in the Museum, as experts in archaeobotany, ceramics, archaeometallurgy, zooarchaeology, digital archaeology and physical anthropology participate in the open house tours.
Hot off the press, the October edition of the national award-winning DIG Into History magazine for children and youth is a focus on ancient Rome—with a special 12-page section on Penn Museum’s CAAM and conservation laboratories.Copies are on sale in the Museum Shop; guests can take their copy on the CAAM tour and ask the articles’ authors to sign them.
DIG Into History magazine (at right), published nine times a year by Cricket Media (www.cricketmedia.com), focuses on world history and archaeology. The ad-free magazine has won many national awards for excellence in educational publishing. For the October 2016 issue, readers “meet” a Roman emperor and explore the world he lived in. For the Let’s Go Digging section, readers go behind the scenes with CAAM at the University of Pennsylvania’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, “visiting” the labs as researchers analyze, preserve and conserve ancient objects in the Museum’s collection and objects being recovered in the field today.
Conservation plays a big part of the collaborative science of archaeology, and visitors are welcome to watch Museum conservators work on mummies and more inside In the Artifact Lab. The conservator opens a window to answer guests’ questions at 12:30 and 3:30 p.m.
Games, Stories and Fun Finds Throughout the Day
Throughout the celebration, guests can visit a Roman militia station, try on reproduction gear, learn what it takes to enlist and discover more about life in the ancient militia. The truly daring can test their skills at an Indiana Jones-style obstacle course set up in the Museum’s inner garden, dodging a rolling boulder (make that a giant beach ball) or forging ahead through a snake pit and a tangle of spider webs. For those who prefer a calmer experience, a Roman Cartifact station invites all to discover life in ancient Italy through touchable reproduction artifacts.
The Museum’s Rome Gallery features fine examples of mosaics, and guests inspired by the ancient originals can create their own paper mosaics at a craft table throughout the day. At 1 p.m., everyone is welcome to join in the construction of a giant mosaic made up of 4,000 tesserae.
At 11 a.m. and again at 3 p.m., guests can listen to ancient Roman tales about the origins of the seasons at a storytelling session.
Gallery Tours and Archaeologist Talks
Worlds Intertwined: Etruscans, Greeks & Romans is a suite of Mediterranean galleries. Featured are more than one thousand artifacts including marble and bronze sculptures, jewelry, metalwork, mosaics, glass vessels, gold and silver coins and pottery, dating from 3000 BCE to the 5th century CE, that help to tell the story of these remarkable peoples. Tours of the Roman Gallery in this suite are offered at 11:45 a.m. and again at 2 p.m.
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A marble cult statue head (above), probably of the goddess Diana, from the late 2nd century BCE, on display in the Museum’s Worlds Intertwined: Etruscans, Greeks & Romans gallery suite.
Photograph courtesy of Penn Museum |
So You Wanna Be an Archaeologist? Guests are invited to ask real archaeologists more about what it is like, at Ask an Archaeologist sessions at noon and again at 2:30 p.m.
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