Museum Of Anthropology Research Articles

Chemical and Metallurgical Investigation of Bronze Vessels from the Archaeological and Anthropological Museum of Rasht, Guilan (Iran)

Chemical and Metallurgical Investigation of Bronze Vessels from the Archaeological and Anthropological Museum of Rasht, Guilan (Iran)

Osteometric characteristics of the Medieval population of Northern Sudan (based on materials from the Deraheib monument)

Introduction. Paleoanthropological studies of Medieval North African materials are extremely few. Despite the large number of international expeditions working in the region, very few results of craniometric and osteometric data are presented. This is partly due to the loss of practical measurement skills in European anthropological schools in the second half of the 20th century, partly due to the difficulties of studying the graves of the Islamic period. Several seasons of work of the Nubian Archaeological and Anthropological Expedition of the Research Institute and the Museum of Anthropology of Lomonosov Moscow State University on the Southern Necropolis of the medieval site Derakheyb (Republic of Sudan) were devoted to the study of this population. The purpose of the publication is characteristics of the medieval population buried in the Southern Necropolis of the Derakheyb site due to osteological features and introducing the new data. Materials and methods. The material is the bones of the postcranial skeleton of adult individuals (14 men and 9 women). The technique corresponds to the classical program in the modification of V.P. Alekseev (a total of 74 signs and 16 pointers). The reconstruction of the body length was carried out, the total body dimensions were described, and the proportion indicators were calculated. For intra-group analysis, the principal component method was used, which was carried out using individual data using the R language. Results and discussion. The male population is characterized by average total body size and shoulder width, while the female series is relatively narrow-shouldered. In the male series, the distal parts of the arms and legs are elongated relative to the proximal ones, and the lower limbs are elongated relative to the upper ones. The women's series featured a more graceful physique. The distal part of the leg is elongated relative to the proximal one, as in the male group; there is also some shortening of the upper limbs relative to the lower ones. Body length varies between 166 cm for men and 156 cm for women. Conclusion. According to osteometry data, the medieval population of the city of Derakheyb can be characterized as heterogeneous, the individuals that stand out mainly correspond to those that stood out according to craniological data. The male part of the population is medium-massive, and the female part is graceful. The entire sample is characterized by shortened lower limbs relative to the arms, as well as elongated distal parts of the arms and legs relative to the proximal ones, which reflects one of the features of the tropical adaptive type.

“Junk” and Priceless China: A Chronology of Cataloguing at the Museum of Anthropology

This paper considers how knowledge has been organized around museum objects at the Museum of Anthropology (MOA), in what is known as British Columbia1. We trace the practice of cataloguing material heritage at this museum, through close examination of catalogue records and interviews with past and present MOA staff, reading from the first attempts at standardizing object nomenclatures in the journals of private collectors, to the contemporary practices associated with object documentation in the digital age. Through a critical cataloguing perspective; this paper plots the creation and use of museum record keeping systems in the particular milieu of Western Canada. This paper is part of a larger research project, “The Work of Repair,” which investigates museum documentation histories across Canada.

Provenance and historical warrants: histories of cataloguing at the Museum of Anthropology

PurposeThis paper considers how knowledge has been organized about museum objects and belongings at the Museum of Anthropology, in what is now known as British Columbia, and proposes the concept of historical or provenance warrant to understand how cataloguing decisions were made and are limited by current museum systems.Design/methodology/approachThrough interviews and archival research, we trace how cataloguing was done at the museum through time and some of the challenges imposed by historical documentation systems.FindingsReading from the first attempts at standardizing object nomenclatures in the journals of private collectors to the contemporary practices associated with object documentation in the digital age, we posit that historic or provenance warrant is crafted through donor attribution or association, object naming, the concept of geo-cultural location and the imposition of unique identifiers, numbers and direct labels that physically mark belongings.Originality/valueThe ultimate goal and contribution of this research is to understand and describe the systems that structure and organize knowledge, in an effort to repair the history and terminologies moving forward.

The journey to a Black Museum Anthropology special issue

The journey to a Black Museum Anthropology special issue

SCULPTOR AND ARTIST I.I. SEVRYUGIN. HIS CONTRIBUTION TO THE ORGANIZATION OF THE FIRST ANTHROPOLOGICAL EXHIBITION IN 1879

Introduction. The work is devoted to an extraordinary person - the sculptor and artist Ivan Illarionovich Sevryugin (1839-?), his contribution to the organization, holding and sculptural embodiment of the Anthropological Exhibition of 1879, which became the starting point in the development of anthropology as an exact and natural-historical science and the basis for the creation of the department and Museum of Anthropology. Materials and methods. This study is based on the printed works of the second half of the 19th century, published by the Society of Amateurs of Natural History, Anthropology and Ethnography (OLEAE), in the research of which historical-typological and historical-descriptive methods were used. The main attention was paid to the analysis of materials and documents related to the preparation and holding of the First Anthropological Exhibition in Moscow in 1879. Archival documents from the Research Institute and the Museum of Anthropology and literary sources were also studied. Results and discussion. The work examines the creative path of the sculptor and artist I.I. Sevryugin. Coming from a poor family of guild artisans, Ivan Illarionovich received an excellent education at the Moscow School of Painting and Sculpture. Studied under Professor N.A. Ramazanov. During his studies, he was repeatedly awarded for his work and upon graduation received the title of third-degree artist. Along with famous sculptors and artists, he took part in the production of collections of mannequins for the Ethnographic Exhibition of 1867. The most significant peak of his activity was the First Anthropological Exhibition of 1879. The development of the exhibition model, its sculptural embodiment, collection and preparation of exhibits (mounds, burial grounds, masks, busts, etc.), a trip to Paris and much more - all this shows him as an incredibly talented person who masters a variety of artistic and sculptural techniques, who was hard working and earned the highest praise from specialists. Conclusion. Analysis of archival and literary sources showed that I.I. Sevryugin, being a talented artist and an excellent sculptor with a colossal capacity for work, took an active part in the preparation of the Anthropological Exhibition of 1879, and contributed to the solution of one of its main tasks - the popularization of anthropology in Russia. Thanks to his talent, he was able to express scientific ideas in artistic form. His works, exhibited in the gallery halls of the Exhibition, clearly showed the general public the unity of the biological and social in human nature. Collections created by I.I. Sevryugin, formed the basis of the sculptural fund of the photo-illustrative department of the Museum of Anthropology of Moscow State University.

OSTEOLOGICAL COLLECTIONS OF THE CHERNYAKHOVSKAYA ARCHAEOLOGICAL CULTURE IN THE FUNDS OF THE ANUCHIN RESEARCH INSTITUTE AND MUSEUM OF ANTHROPOLOGY OF LOMONOSOV MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY

Introduction. The cycle of publications on the historical and archaeological characteristics of osteological collections from the funds of the Anuchin Research Institute and Museum of Anthropology of Lomonosov Moscow State University continues in the article. The purpose of this work is to create an information base for paleoanthropologists studying collections from the burial grounds of the Chernyakhovskaya archaeological culture dated III – beginning. V centuries AD. Materials and methods. This section provides a general description of the collections from the burial grounds of the Chernyakhovskaya culture, stored in the museum's funds. The materials considered were unearthed during excavations by Soviet archaeologists of the 1950s-1960s (E.A. Simonovich, G.B. Fedorov) on the territory of modern Ukraine and Moldova. The work uses all available publications of the authors of the excavations, as well as subsequent summary and analytical studies. Results. The main part of the work presents information on the burial grounds of the Chernyakhovkaya culture of Zhuravka, Chernyakhov, Malaeshty. The geographical characteristics of the sites, the history of their research, and basic information about the archaeological context for the presented anthropological materials from these necropolises are given. The most common, standard features of the funeral rite are shown and burials with unusual features that fall out of the general framework are indicated. A number of burials have been identified, which are marked in the accounting materials as belonging to the Chernyakhovskaya culture, but, in fact, are not related to it. Conclusion. The analysis of information about the three burial grounds allows us to consider them, to some extent, reference, standard for the Chernyakhovskaya culture at the main stage of its existence. A large collection from Zhuravka –143 storage units, as well as fairly large ones, 21 storage units and 20 storage units, respectively, from the burial grounds of Chernyakhov and Malaeshty allows to apply a wide range of anthropological and molecular genetic techniques.

Archaeological Collections from the Jōmon Period in the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera)

This article presents an analysis and additional description of archaeological items of the Jōmon period from A.V. Grigoriev’s collection (No. 1294) at the Department of Archaeology of the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) RAS in St. Petersburg. The study focuses on the description of decorative motifs and the stylistic attribution of selected samples of pottery. The analysis is based on the published data about the Ōmori shell mound (Tokyo, Honshu Island), visited by Grigoriev in 1878 as a part of the expedition from the Imperial Russian Geographical Society. The early stage of the Japanese archaeology is described with reference to the Ōmori shell mound. Special attention is given to specific features of the Jōmon decorative style. The geographic location of the site suggests that the samples are associated with the Kasori B and Horinouchi styles. Contrary to the Russian tradition, the emphasis is made on stylistic interpretation rather than technology and typology. The combinations of large zonally arranged rectangular designs and spiral motifs are typical of the Kasori B style, to which several samples belong. Others reveal vertically and horizontally arranged patterns consisting of incised arcuate and straight lines, typical of the Horinouchi style.

Sex and age distribution of the Hyperostosis frontalis interna (based on skulls analysis of tra-ditional societies in Eurasia)

Hyperostosis frontalis interna is an overgrowth on the inner surface of the frontal bone [Hershkovitz et al., 1999]. HFI is accompanied by hormonal and metabolic disorders usually [Hershkovitz et al., 1999]. The rate of HFI in historical groups is low (1–4 %) compared to the modern population, where the incidence of HFI can reach 70 % [Kolyasnikova, Buzhilova, 2023; Barber et al., 1997]. In the modern population, HFI is more common for women, predominantly elderly, which, at first glance, is explained by the general increase in women's life expectancy and the accumulation of various chronic pathologies in old age, including those related to metabolism. To examine the distribution of the HFI trait by sex and age, craniological material from representatives of traditional societies of farmers, hunters, nomadic and semi-nomadic pastoralists living in different climatic zones was studied. Craniological series were divided into three main groups: inhabitants of the Arctic and subarctic, temperate and continental climatic zones. A total of 1912 skulls were studied from the funds of the Research Institute and the Museum of Anthropology of Moscow State University [Alexe-eva et al., 1986]. As a result, using the example of 4 traditional groups from three climatic zones, it was shown that the sign of frontal internal hyperostosis is equally pronounced in both women and men, regardless of ethnic origin, place of residence and type of activity. The age-related increase in the frequency of hyperostosis, taking into account gender, does not give a clear trend in all groups obtained from the analysis of combined samples, which can be explained by the relatively small number of HFI observations in individual subgroups. The pattern of distribution of the trait of frontal internal hyperostosis in the modern population, where the trait is more common in older women, does not correlate with the distribution of HFI in the population adapted to environmental conditions. The results obtained suggest that in tradi-tional societies that have been selected for factors of conditions and lifestyle, regardless of their origin, the distribution of the trait of frontal internal hyperostosis will demonstrate a natural profile that is most adequate to their lifestyle and diet.

Empowering African‐American museums: The vital role of black museum anthropologists in grantmaking

AbstractMany African American museums face financial constraints and need resources to preserve their collections, create exhibits, and offer educational programs. Grant funding is crucial for the sustainability of these museums. Black anthropologists are essential in grant writing because they provide their extensive knowledge of African American history and culture to help museums develop compelling narratives that resonate with grant funders. Additionally, Black anthropologists are needed as reviewers of grant proposals. By leveraging their unique insights from professional training and personal experiences, Black anthropologists can champion the cause of these museums in the grant‐making process. Their expertise allows them to assess proposals from a culturally sensitive perspective, considering the unique needs, goals, and challenges African American museums face. This essay highlights the significant contributions of Black anthropologists who have advocated for and strengthened grant applications from African American museums, ensuring that they align with the mission and vision of the grant‐making institutions. By helping African American museums secure grant support, Black anthropologists also convey the significance and value of other African American museums.

Полевые дневники Б.А. Куфтина, руководителя Тунгусской экспедиции, как источники эпохи становления советской этнографии

The article analyzes the travel diaries of the head of the Tunguska expedition of 1927–1928, Boris Kuftin (1892–1953). Methods and materials. Participants of the Tunguska Expedition conducted field research on Lake Baikal and the Far East in places where Evenks, Nanais, Negidals, Nivkhs, Oroches, and Udeges people lived. They collected valuable ethnographic materials about the ethnocultural features of settlement, types of dwellings, fishing activities, life cycle rituals, shamanism, holidays, and features of the language and folklore of the Tunguso-Manchus and Paleoasiats. Field notebooks of B.A. Kuftin are stored in St. Petersburg, in the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (the Kunstkamera) of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and contain a large volume of ethnographic and anthropological information, drawings, shamanic texts, and various life support technologies. Results. However, in addition to them, the scientific heritage of the scientist has a travel diary, which reflects personal road observations and impressions of B.A. Kuftin, subjective characteristics of regional transport infrastructure in the first quarter of the 20th century, his own assessments of the development of Siberian and far Eastern historical science, their relationship with world science, and museum business in Eastern Siberia and the Far East. During the route, B.A. Kuftin met a large number of scientists – representatives of different scientific disciplines – who showed aspects of their complex social relations at the time.

The main directions of research of physical development in the context of psychology, psychophysiology, genetics and sports anthropology: а review based on the articles published in «Lomonosov Journal of Anthropology» for the last 15 years

Introduction. This work continues the series of articles devoted to the assessment of the main directions of auxology development in Russian anthropology. This part presents and describes the work of the staff of the Research Institute and Museum of Anthropology of Lomonosov Moscow State University, the Department of Anthropology of the Faculty of Biology of Lomonosov Moscow State University, as well as the Russian University Sport (SCOLIPE) and the Federal Science Center of Physical Culture and Sport (VNIIFK). Materials and methods. In this part of the work, articles devoted to the comprehensive assessment of the research of physical development in the context of psychology, psychophysiology, genetics and sports anthropology, which were published in the «Lomonosov Journal of Anthropology (Moscow University Anthropology Bulletin)» from 2009 to 2022 were used as a source of information. Results and discussion. The described works evaluate, firstly, the psychosomatic connections of self-esteem and soma parameters that determine it, as well as the specifics of the processes of growth and adaptation in biological and psychological aspects. Secondly, the intra-group variability of neurophysiological parameters (EEG parameters) and the analysis of their correlations with somatic indicators are considered. Thirdly, the contribution of genetic factors to the development of morphological trait systems, primarily associated with increased body weight and obesity, is evaluated. In addition, the results of studies devoted to the search for predictors of sports success and the analysis of the physical status of athletes of various specializations are presented. Conclusion. The number of works similar to those described in this review is steadily growing every year, which suggests an increasing integrative nature of anthropological research.

Excavating Whiteness in the African Archive: The Story of Amandus Johnson's 1920s Expedition to Angola for the Penn Museum

AbstractAs we further seek to “decolonize” museum images of Africa, the museum archives of African Collections—the correspondence, ledgers, diaries, photographs, and other documents of White explorers working in Africa—suture the colonial practices that produced ways of seeing Africa—and Blackness more broadly—back onto the objects that museums maintain and display today. As increasing scholarly attention seeks to rectify the anti‐Black colonial violence of the archive, this research aims to situate the pedestrian colonial ethnographic practices and spectacular African explorer mythmaking found in museum archives within the foundation of museum anthropology and the museum itself. It also looks to the possibilities of contemporary museum practice to reframe and repair colonial museum constructions of Africa.

Moving On: Rethinking Practice and Transforming Data at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge

Scholarly attention is increasingly focusing on museum catalogues: their histories, challenges and, as this paper explores, their potential. Many databases contain outdated information and offensive language, the legacy of colonial-era knowledge production and digitization processes that translated catalogue cards into database entries. Much has been written about the potential of catalogues to act as sites of contact and collaboration, as well as how institutions can and should mitigate harm stemming from discriminatory language within their catalogues. Yet as museum practitioners are acutely aware, the extensive work required to enact change throughout a database is rarely perceived as exciting enough to garner dedicated project funding. This paper uses the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and the Stores Move Project (2020–2024) as a case study to illustrate how museums can, and realistically must, integrate critical documentation work into larger projects in order to achieve these objectives. The authors first engage with MAA’s own history of collecting and cataloguing, before detailing how collections staff have incorporated documentation priorities (re-cataloguing, historicizing data, and addressing bias) into the larger Project. They conclude with the hope that by making this work more visible and demonstrating its value, such projects might attract dedicated funding in the future.

О XV Конгрессе антропологов и этнологов России

The article is dedicated to the XV Congress of Anthropologists and Ethnologists of Russia (CAER), which took place on June 26–30, 2023 in St. Petersburg. More than 800 scientists took part in the Congress, including employees of the Center for Humanitarian Problems of the Barents Region of the Federal Research Center KSC RAS. The organizers of the congress in 2023 were the Association of Anthropologists and Ethnologists of Russia, the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography. Peter the Great (Kunstkamera) RAS, St. Petersburg State University and the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology. N. N. Miklouho-Maclay RAS. Traditionally, the achievements of world and domestic ethnology and anthropology were discussed within the framework of the congress.

Understanding and Interpretation of Indonesian Museum Collections on Culture And People in The Archipelago

Museum Indonesia is one of the many museums in Taman Mini Indonesia Indah. This Indonesian Museum is an anthropology museum where in this museum there is knowledge about culture and humans, especially humans in the archipelago. Cultural tourism is part of tourism as a whole. Cultural tourism deals with a region's culture, lifestyle, history, art, architecture, religion and other elements that makeup residents' way of life in a geographical area. This article will discuss the understanding and interpretation of culture and humans in Nusantara, Indonesia.

Domain dichotomy and sociolinguistic inequality in Philippine museum spaces

Abstract The prevailing notion on the scholastic domains of English and Filipino is that the former is used for science, whereas the latter is reserved for the social sciences. Despite its questionable veracity, this domain dichotomy has nevertheless been adopted in Philippine education, particularly in the 1974 Bilingual Education Policy (Sibayan, 1978; Gonzalez, 1990). Using Scollon and Scollon’s (2003) concept of emplacement and Kress and van Leeuwen’s (1996) information value as theoretical points of departure and Tupas’ (2008, 2015a) ‘Unequal Englishes’ paradigm as an analytical framework, this paper investigates whether this dichotomy has permeated into the Linguistic Landscapes of two national museums in Manila. It finds that there is a strong tendency for the natural history museum to privilege English in bilingual signs and the anthropological museum to privilege Filipino, thereby suggesting that this split has already been reified in language practices outside the realm of education policy making and politics.

Производство знания и наследия как борьба с неопределенностью: кейс коренных народов Таймыра в 1920–1930-е гг.

The process of accumulating knowledge about the indigenous communities of Taimyr and the formation of museum collections is examined through the optics of uncertainty studies using the example of several cases covering the activities of the Committee of the North, the Krasnoyarsk Local History Museum (the State Museum of the Yenisei Region) and the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography in the first decades after the revolution. The main purpose of the study was an attempt to establish how the museification of household items and the study of traditional life practices recognized at the state level as “backward” and “archaic” in the logic of the Bolsheviks were supposed to bring victory over “backwardness”, the transition to a sedentary lifestyle, collectivization and modernization of the economy, integration of the indigenous population into Soviet structures. It seems true to assert that the power of experience created by a museum or other cultural institution was used to maintain the narrative of the imminent transition of indigenous Northerners to socialism, which was supposed to mark the predictability of life. Having studied the activities of the local history post of the Khatanga cultural base and the museum-expedition work of famous ethnographers and Northern historians B.O. Dolgikh and A.A. Popova, the author comes to the conclusion that the struggle with uncertainty took place in two dimensions: a) the very accumulation of information about nomads allowed the authorities to more effectively determine the ways and forms of territorial management; b) the representation of the cultures of the northern nomads in the “modernizing” discourse explicitly represented the path from the “primitive” state “on the verge of extinction” to socialism and “civilization”. The work also showed that the very signification of things and practices through their transformation into exhibits largely laid the foundations of the Soviet policy of working with indigenous heritage, which was developed in subsequent years. The research is based on archival materials of the Committee of the North in the State Archive of the Russian Federation (GARF) and publications devoted to expeditionary activities and the collection of Taimyr museum collections of the period under study. The author also expresses gratitude to her colleagues who worked on the research commissioned by the Russian Geographical Society “The history of the settlement of indigenous small-numbered peoples of Taimyr in the territories of the Norilsk Mining and Metallurgical Combine and related infrastructure in the 1920s and 1980s”, project manager D.A. Funk, as well as A.S. Basov, S.O. Kovalsky and A.A. Pushin. The author declares no conflict of interests.

Cotton Production in Central Asia in the Photo Collections of the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (1870 — the 1930s)

The paper endeavours to contextualize the photo collections of 1870 — the 1930s from the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (MAE), featuring cotton growing and production in Central Asia, that have until now played a preeminent role in the life of the region. Throughout centuries, this agricultural crop has had a particular significance in the development of the local trade and crafts. The crop gained an additional economic significance after Central Asia's incorporation into Russia. The MAE photo collections on cotton production in Central Asia include almost every stage of growing, cotton ginning and even cotton textile production. The earliest photographs mainly depict the pre-treatment steps of cotton processing, including boiling out, batting, scutching, and spinning (“The Turkestan Album”, F. Hordet). The primitive process of cotton ginning dominated in the region for years. The primary stages of cotton growing are depicted in the photographic materials of later years, specifically the 1920s and 1930s (including photographs of loosening the soil, sorting out and planting the seeds, weeding the young crops, picking the raw cotton, transporting, storing and ginning it.

Consultation, Collaboration, and Consent: Decolonizing and Indigenizing Archival Research

Abstract: Archival research that involves Indigenous-related collections should center and prioritize Indigenous interests and goals regarding the materials. Professionals within these spaces are responsible for taking actions to build safe connections between collections and the communities they represent. Archival materials are often overlooked as relationship-building opportunities. This paper explores collaborative efforts between the Indiana University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and Native partners whose histories are found in collections at the institution, as well as how policies and procedures are changing to be a more inclusive space. Though museums are often the focus of NAGPRA-related conversations, we also emphasize that archives may contain NAGPRA-eligible materials and discuss a few of those instances. Repatriation, whether or digital or physical, remains a valid strategy for returning archival materials but like all consultation, relies on the circumstance. Ultimately, we argue that professionals should return control of appropriate Indigenous materials to their source communities which takes steps towards indigenizing and decolonizing archival research. (158 count)