Welcome to the Penn Museum blog. First launched in January 2009, the Museum blog now has over 800 posts covering a range of topics in the categories of Museum, Collection, Exhibitions, Research, and By Location. Here you’ll hear directly from our staff and Penn students about their work, research, experiences, and discoveries. To explore the Museum's other digital content, visit The Digital Penn Museum.
Mosaic Fragment [Object of the Day #124]
By: Brian Rose
Although this mosaic now stands as a wall within the Roman gallery, it originally formed part of a large house floor in one of the ancient Roman cities in Tunisia, probably Utica. The panel is over 2 m long and 1.3 m wide, and is dominated by a meander pattern composed of interlocking squares. […]
Notes from Afghanistan: The Burning of the Koran
By: Brian Rose
I’ve just returned from Afghanistan but I wanted to write one final blog regarding the burning of the Koran by the Florida minister last month. As many of you know, that act resulted in a number of anti-American and anti-UN protests during this past weekend, some of which turned violent, with several UN personnel and […]
Notes from Afghanistan, Day Four: Equal Education for Boys and Girls
By: Brian Rose
Thursday’s events fell into three groups. In the morning we attended the opening of a girls’ school in Ghazni that had been funded by the U.S. Embassy and implemented by the Ghazni Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in conjunction with the Ghazi Department of Women’s Affairs. There were opening speeches by the governor along with an […]
Notes from Afghanistan, Day Three: Ancient Monuments of Ghazni
By: Brian Rose
Today was devoted exclusively to a tour of the ancient monuments of Ghazni, which stretch from perhaps as early as the Achaemenid or Persian period to the Timurid period in the early 16th century. This trip required us to travel to all sides of the city. Although we advised at the beginning of the day […]
Notes from Afghanistan, Day Two: A Tour of Ghazni
By: Brian Rose
Early this morning we boarded a military helicopter and flew to Ghazni, nearly 150 km to the southwest of Kabul. The flight took us over the Hindu Kush mountains, which had been crossed by Alexander over 2,300 years ago. We’re staying just outside of Ghazni at a PRC (Provincial Reconstruction Center), which contains a mix […]
Notes from Afghanistan, Day One
By: Brian Rose
C. Brian Rose, former President of the Archaeological Institute of America, shares his observations about Afghanistan during his current trip: As many of you will remember, two years ago I had the good fortune of visiting Iraq at the invitation of the US Embassy in Baghdad, and I described my impressions of the country, and […]