University of Pennsylvania Finding Aids

The Gordion Project collection documents the University of Pennsylvania survey and excavation of the ancient site of Gordion in central Turkey from 1947 until 2008. Collection series include excavation and conservation records under the authority of project directors Rodney S. Young (1950-1974), Keith R. DeVries (1975-1987) and G. Kenneth Sams (1988-2008) as well as fundraising and publication records during this period. Significant gaps and omissions in documentation occur after about 1990. The textual records are followed by photographs from the excavation site taken mostly between 1950 and 1975. Additional graphic material and field notebooks remain to be added to this collection.

Henry N. Michael was an anthropologist and geographer whose research on growth rings in ancient bristlecone pine trees allowed him to develop Carbon 14 calibration, or “correcting scale.” This scale helped to resolve problems in radiocarbon dating in archaeology. Dr. Michael also published a number of works translated from Russian on various aspects of Arctic archaeology and ethnography, along with folklore of Arctic people. Holdings include research and field notes on his trips to the White Mountains in California to collect bristlecone pine samples, testing of wood samples at the Penn Museum Radiocarbon Lab, and notes and drafts of publications and translations.

Keith R. DeVries (1937-2006) taught Greek and Anatolian archaeology at the University of Pennsylvania from 1969 until his retirement in 2004. His research included Greek fibulae, pottery, and homosexuality. His early field work included excavations at Ischia and Corinth during the 1960's (not included in this collection), but the bulk of his work was at Gordion (Turkey) from 1971 through 2003, where he was also project director from 1974 through 1987. He continued his professional research, especially related to Gordion and Greek homosexuality, until his death in 2006.

MASCA, or the Museum Applied Science Center for Archaeology, was established in 1961 by a grant from the National Science Foundation. MASCA was modeled after the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art in Oxford. From the time of its inception in 1961, MASCA, along with the Radiocarbon Laboratory, made a number of contributions to radiocarbon dating and other dating and materials analysis techniques including thermoluminescence, xeroradiography, Proton Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE) analysis of metals, analysis of faunal and plant remains and other projects either within the museum or remotely at archaeological sites. MASCA was disassembled in 2009.