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Archaeologists and Travelers in Ottoman Lands

Presented by University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (Penn Museum)

September 26, 2010-February 6, 2011

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In the 1880s, the Penn Museum organized America’s first archaeological expedition to the ancient Near East—to Nippur, a promising but far-flung Mesopotamian site then within the vast Ottoman Empire, now located in Iraq. It was a time of great opportunities and great adventurers. Archaeologists and Travelers in Ottoman Lands takes a look at the accomplishments, struggles and fortunes of three adventurers whose lives intersected at Nippur: Osman Hamdi Bey, archaeologist, museum director and internationally renowned Turkish painter; John Henry Haynes, American archaeologist and photographer; and Hermann Vollrath Hilprecht, a German archaeologist, Assyriologist, and professor at Penn. The exhibition features two 19th century oil paintings by Osman Hamdi Bey, including one, Excavations at Nippur, which has never before been on public exhibition. The story is told through photographs, many by Haynes, and more than 40 artifacts from the Nippur expedition (1889–1900), including a full-sized “slipper” coffin, incantation bowls inscribed with protective magical spells, figurines, and numerous clay cuneiform tablets bearing some of the earliest writing in the world. The exhibition is made possible through generous donations from the Halpern-Rogath Fund of the History of Art Department at the University of Pennsylvania; the Joukowsky Foundation; and the Turkish Cultural Foundation. Merle-Smith Gallery West, 1st floor.