University of Pennsylvania Finding Aids

The Akhenaten Temple Project was the first computer project assumed by the University of Pennsylvania Museum. It was proposed in 1965 by Ray Winfeild Smith, and in 1966 he began the project with the aid of IBM’s nascent computer technology. The IBM computer was abandoned in 1976. This collection spans Ray Winfield Smith’s entire involvement as director of the project 1968-1971, and begins the career of Dr. Donald B. Redford who acted as a consultant in 1971 and has been director since 1972. The records contain papers and photographs relating to the foundation of the Akhenaten Temple Project, and are divided into five series: Financial; Correspondence and Reports; Project Negatives; Photographs; Misc.

From 1931-1933, The University Museum sponsored Erich Schmidt's excavations and survey at Tepe Hissar and sites around the city Damghan, both in Northwestern Iran, near the Caspian sea. These sites were unique because they were the first American excavations in Iran, but more particuarly because of the long time span represented in the archaeological record. Remains from the Bronze Age to the Islamic era were collected, but Schmidt focused his investigation on the Bronze Age and Sassanian eras.

In 1887, the University of Pennsylvania agreed to sponsor an expedition to the Near East. The idea was conceived by Reverend John Punnett Peters, University of Pennsylvania Professor of Hebrew. Nippur was a pre-Biblical city-state located in the region between the Tigris and Euphrates, the area believed to be the "cradle of civilization." The museum conducted four expeditions between 1889 and 1898. The textual records for Nippur consist of 20 linear feet of files are arranged by Expedition (I, II, III, IV), as well as publications, maps and drawings. The documents for each expedition are separated according to type: Field Notes, Reports and Narratives, Correspondence, Financial Records.

Tepe Gawra is an ancient Mesopotamian settlement in northern Iraq, near the ancient site of Nineveh and fifteen miles northeast of the modern city of Mosul. It was excavated by archaeologists from the University of Pennsylvania, led by E.A. Speiser, who first discovered the site in 1927, and later, C. Bache. The excavations showed that the Tepe Gawra site was occupied from approximately 5000 B.C. to 1500 B.C. The textual records from Tepe Gawra consist of 11.85 linear feet of General Correspondence, Field Notes, Indexes and Catalogues, Field Registers, and Publications, plus Maps and Drawings. Where possible, a chronological order was imposed on the Near East records.