Nearly 1,200 artifacts. $5 million dollars. 3 years.

Those are the numbers behind the Penn Museum's Middle East Galleries, which have gone through extensive renovation and re-open to the public on April 21 with a two-day festival.

The galleries showcase 10,000 years worth of history, from large clay jars discovered in Iran that date back to 5400 BCE. to a 4,000-year-old footprint from the ancient city of Ur to a 15th century islamic mosaic. It's the work of ten curators.

"Through these galleries we are trying to tell a story of humanity, of people that were not so different from you and me," said curator Holly Pittman.

She hopes visitors keep the people behind the objects in mind as they tour the galleries.

"Remember that each and every object on display was created by a person or persons for purposes that in some cases we can be very confident of and in other cases we are just venturing to understand," she said. "The selection of the objects was informed by trying to tell the story of the development of human society from small scale to ever increasing size."

Prizes of the collection include objects found during excavations of the tomb of Queen Puabi, who ruled Ur (in modern day Iraq) around 2450 BCE. Buried with her are her elaborate headdress, cape and a bull-headed lyre which is one of the earliest musical instruments.

By her tomb sits "The Great Death Pit," which was filled with six men and 68 men who were supposed to serve the queen in the afterlife. The skull of one of the female attendants, flattened by layers of earth over time, is on display in the galleries.

The galleries also hold a tablet containing writing by Enheduanna, the first named author in history. Enheduanna was a high priestess of the goddess Inanna and god Nanna in the Sumerian city of Ur and wrote hymns around 2300 BCE.

Unassuming, but nevertheless important, is a black obsidian bowl, which several of the galleries curators highlighted as their favorite part of the exhibition. The bowl is around 6000 years old and its value lies in its construction.

"There were no metal tools, no diamond tools," said Dan Rahimi, executive director of galleries at the Penn Museum. "You had to actually make it by taking sand, water and rubbing it in and having the sand cut this shape. Not only did they make it round and hollow it out, but they put a spout through it."

"It's really, truly, a masterwork of prehistoric technology," he added. "I just don't understand how they did it."

You can take a mini tour of the new galleries in the photo gallery at the top of this article.

Can't see the gallery? Click here.

While the galleries tell the story of humanity, they also highlight the history of the Penn Museum and the University of Pennsylvania. The museum organized the first American excavation in Mesopotamia in 1888. Many of the artifacts on display are a result of Penn Museum archaeological digs.

The Middle East Galleries will host a variety of tours, including ones by the new global guides. These are guides who grew up in Syria and Iraq and offer interpretations of the artifacts based on their own personal experience. Their tours will be offered at 2:30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through May.

To celebrate the re-opening of the galleries, the Penn Museum is throwing a weekend-long festival starting on April 21. The festival includes musical performances, a puppet show telling the story of Gilgamesh, Arabic calligraphy workshops, marketplace and more.

The new Middle East Galleries are part of the museum's "Building Transformation" project, a multi-year endeavor that includes the makeover of the museum's Mexico and Central America Galleries (slated to re-open in November of this year), the addition of two elevators and renovation of Harrison Auditorium (expected to be completed in Summer 2019) and new Africa Galleries (marked for a fall 2019 opening). The project also will include extensive work done to the Egypt and Asian galleries. Learn more about the campaign and how you can help here.

The Penn Museum is located at 3260 South St. in University City in Philadelphia. Admission to the museum is $15 for adults, $13 for senior citizens and $10 for children (6-17) and full-time college students. It is free for active U.S. military personnel and children 5 and under. For more information on the museum visit penn.museum.

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