The size and diversity of the African continent are striking. More than three times the size of the United States, Africa is made up of over 50 countries and about 1,000 languages. There are deserts and rainforests, but also mountains, woodlands, savannas, and grasslands.

Today, the African continent includes a vast spectrum of social and political institutions and cultural systems. Lifestyles are equally diverse and include that of the subsistence farmer; the urban shopkeeper; market woman, or businessperson; the hunter-gatherer; as well as the nomadic herder or itinerant worker.

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Amarna: Ancient Egypt's Place in the Sun is a long-term exhibit in our Egyptian galleries, featuring more than 100 ancient artifacts. Some of these artifacts have never before been on display—including statuary of gods, goddesses and royalty, monumental reliefs, golden jewelry as well as personal items from the royal family, and artists’ materials from the royal workshops of Amarna.  Most of the show’s artifacts date to the time of Tutankhamun and the Amarna Period, including many objects excavated almost a century ago.

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The exhibit Buddhism: History and Diversity of a Great Tradition, currently on display in the Museum’s Pepper Hall, traces Buddhism from its origins in India through its development along ancient land and sea routes leading into central Asia, and flowing through Southeast Asia, Tibet, China, and Japan. Consisting of text panels, photographs, and a rich display of more than 130 artifacts culled from the Museum's own collection, the exhibition illustrates Buddhism’s interaction and exchange with cultures throughout Asia highlighting the different expressions of faith that Buddhism inherited along its journey to becoming one of the world’s largest religions.

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Our Museum holds nearly 25,000 artifacts from excavations in the Levant, a geographical area that encompasses modern Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, Jordan and Lebanon, as well as adjacent parts of Syria. Penn Museum’s holdings represent the largest collection of artifacts from the region in the United States and the Western Hemisphere.

Penn Museum’s active interest in the Levant began in the 1920s, when Clarence Fisher, Alan Rowe and G. M. FitzGerald directed excavations, funded by John D. Rockefeller, at Tell el-Husn, ancient Beisan or Beth Shean, on whose walls the Philistines impaled the bodies of Saul and his sons following their defeat on Mount Gilboa (1 Samuel 31: 1-10). The Beth Shean excavations lasted from 1921 to 1933. Beginning in the mid-1950s James B. Pritchard directed work at el-Jib/Gibeon (1956-62), Tell es Sa’idiyeh (1964-68), probably ancient Zarenthan, where the Israelites crossed the Jordan (Joshua 3: 16), and Sarafand/Sarepta (1969-74). Museum researcher Patrick McGovern dug in the Baq’ah Valley (Jordan) in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and Bruce Routledge, formerly at Penn Museum, undertook excavations at Khirbet al-Mudayna al-‘Aliya in the same country in the 1990s.

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The Chinese Rotunda is the majestic setting of the Museum's Chinese collection. Ninety feet in diameter and soaring ninety feet high, the rotunda is one of the largest unsupported masonry domes in the United States, housing one of the finest collections of monumental Chinese art in the country.

The large-scale artifacts on view in the rotunda are a testament to the artistic achievements of the Chinese people, particularly in early Buddhist sculpture, and the continuity of artistic evolution during the early, pre-Song periods (before 1000 CE). Unlike many collections of the University of Pennsylvania Museum, the Chinese collection in large part consists of donations and purchases rather than pieces acquired through Museum expeditions. Statuary of various materials, murals, paintings on silk, jades, bronzes, and ceramics are presently on exhibit. 

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***Please note: Iraq's Ancient Past is closed for renovation through March 2011.

Iraq's Ancient Past: Rediscovering Ur's Royal Cemetery tells the story of the discovery and excavation of the Royal Cemetery at Ur in modern-day Iraq. The collection includes the famous gold and lapis lazuli bullheaded lyre, a "Ram in the Thicket" sculpture, as well as Lady Pu-abi's headdress and jewelry from ca. 2650-2550 BCE. The story of the excavations at Ur as well as the archaeological and historical context of the finds offer insight into this ancient civilization through its Royal Tombs.

Visit the Iraq's Ancient Past website

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Islamic Civilization counts its beginnings from 620 CE with the first year of the hijra or the migration of the prophet Muhammad and his small band of followers from Mecca to Medina. From there, the third of the great monotheistic Abrahamic faiths of the Old World grew into an empire through conquest and conversion to take over the southern provinces of the old Roman empire and entire Persian empire. So, by 750 CE, the new polity centered on Baghdad stretched from the Atlantic to the Indus River.

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The culture and cultural perspectives of four Native American peoples of the Southwest are the focus of this exhibition, which opened 20 May 1995. Specifically, it examines the sacred and cultural connection that the Hopi, Zuni, Navajo, and Apache have with their environment. It features an Apache tipi, a Navajo hooghan framework, an illuminated walk-in sky theater, and more than 300 objects from the Museum's extensive archaeological and ethnographic Southwest collections.

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The Lower Egyptian Gallery houses one of the finest collections of Egyptian architecture on display in the United States. A monumental granite sphinx dominates the gallery. Surrounding it are the gateway, columns, doorways and windows from the best preserved royal palace ever excavated in Egypt. The palace was built for the New Kingdom pharaoh Merenptah (r. 1213-1204 BCE) at the city of Memphis in Lower Egypt. The Penn Museum is the only museum in the world to exhibit such a significant portion of an Egyptian royal palace.

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The objects in this gallery are from "Mesoamerica," the area encompassing most of southern Mexico, all of Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador and parts of Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. In parts of this culture area farming villages grew into towns and cities, tribal chiefs were made kings and emperors, trade networks became more complex, stone monuments and pyramids were erected, a calendar and writing system developed, and devotion to nature spirits developed into state ceremonies in honor of the gods and ancestors.

Mesoamerican culture history can be divided into four periods:

I. Hunting/Gathering (ca. 10,000 BC - 1500 BC)
II. Preclassic or Formative (ca. 1500 BC - 300 CE)
III. Classic (ca. 300 CE - 900 CE)
IV. Post-Classic (ca. 900 CE - 1500 CE)

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This popular Museum exhibition features human and animal mummies, tomb artifacts, and objects and materials used in the mummification process. It offers an in-depth look at the ancient Egyptian beliefs in the afterlife, and the complex funerary practices they developed over thousands of years. The exhibition also looks at what modern-day scientists, through x-ray, autopsy and other techniques, have learned about ancient Egyptian culture.

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Our finest examples of Egyptian sculpture are exhibited in our Upper Egyptian Gallery. The material on display, including carved relief, stone coffins, and exquisite three-dimensional sculpture, testifies to the superb craftsmanship of Egyptian artists and sculptors throughout its long history.

Highlights of the this exhibit include two statues of the goddess Sekhmet from one of the Theban temples of Amenophis III (ca. 1405-1367 BCE). Portrayed as a lioness or lion-headed woman, Sekhmet was the daughter and defender of the sun god, Ra. Although she was known for her ferocity, Sekhmet was revered by the Egyptians as a protector because of her capacity to spare them from the sun god's wrath. A case along the left wall of the gallery features the portrayal of animals in Egyptian art and iconography. Numerous deities were depicted in animal form, and images of animals such as cats, falcons, serpents, and even scorpions were used as amulets and votive offerings.

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Worlds Intertwined highlights more than one thousand artifacts including marble and bronze sculptures, jewelry, metalwork, mosaics, glass vessels, gold and silver coins, and pottery from the Museum’s outstanding Mediterranean collection of more than 30,000 objects, which date from 3000 BCE to the 5th century CE.

The exhibit tells the story of the Etruscan peoples, the first great rulers of central Italy (800 - 100 BCE), and their empire-building Roman successors (500 BCE - 500 CE). Of special importance are artifact groups from the Etruscan tomb groups excavated at Narce and Vulci, Roman statuary from the Sanctuary of Diana Nemorensis on the shores of Lake Nemi, south of Rome, and sculpture and architectural decoration from the Museum's own excavations at Minturnae, north of Naples.

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