The Deep Dig

The Penn Museum is running a new session of The Deep Dig, a virtual course on ancient history and excavation that kicks off Tuesday, Nov. 3, and runs through Nov. 24. It's part of a series the museum puts together with its own scholars and experts, built around ancient history, excavation, and the cultural heritage tied to the museum's collection and research. You don't need a background in archaeology or anthropology to jump in—each course is a string of weekly sessions that include digital readings, online archival research, and videos.

This particular run covers four different topics, one per week. Week 1 is Sheila Murnaghan, Ph.D., on ancient Greek literature. Week 2 brings in Marc Marin Webb, Ph.D., to talk about the Yezidi community of Northern Iraq. Week 3 is Kathleen D. Morrison, Ph.D., on the relationship between people and their environments. And Week 4 is Theodore G. Schurr, Ph.D., on what ancient DNA reveals about ancestry, migration, and health. It's a wide range—Greek literature, a community in Northern Iraq, environmental history, and ancient DNA—so you get a few different angles on the ancient world over the course of the month.

The sessions are delivered through the Visual Experience Platform (VXP), which the Barnes Foundation developed. It's a bit different from the usual screen-sharing setup: you can deep-zoom into artifacts and spin archaeological sites in a 360-degree view, so you're looking at the objects rather than just watching someone talk over a slide deck. If you're a teacher and you register with a paid spot, you can earn ACT 48 credit, and the recorded sessions stay available for a year, which is handy if you want to go back and look at something later.

Registration is $180 for the general public and $130 for Penn Museum members, with five scholarships available per course. The sessions run Tuesdays, Nov. 3 through Nov. 24, from 6:30 to 8:00 PM ET, all virtual via the VXP.