The Oriental Institute - #oi100

Last month, the Art Institute of Chicago teamed up with radiologist Michael W. Vannier of the University of Chicago Medicine and Oriental Institute research associate Emily Teeter to study two of its mummies, Paankhenamun (c. 945--715 BC) and Wenuhotep (c. 300 BC). The team used state-of-the-art CT scan technology to examine the mummies, revealing new information about life in ancient Egypt. ➡ Subscribe: About #UChicago: Since its founding in 1890, the University of Chicago has been a destination for rigorous inquiry and field-defining research.This transformative academic experience empowers students and scholarsto challenge conventional thinking in pursuit of original ideas. #UChicago on the Web: Home: News: Facebook: Twitter: Instagram: University of Chicago on YouTube: /uchicago *** ACCESSIBILITY: If you experience any technical difficulties with this video or would like to make an accessibility-related request, please email digicomm@uchicago.edu.

Clemens Reichel, Research Associate at the Oriental Institute, explains the importance of the groundbreaking archaeological expedition he co-directed at Hamoukar in Northern Syria. Until recently, archaeologists believed that urban civilization first arose in Southern Mesopotamia, or modern day Iraq. Work at Hamoukar has revealed a separate and equally ancient urban movement to the north of the area that has been traditionally regarded as the birthplace of "the city." ➡ Subscribe: About #UChicago: Since its founding in 1890, the University of Chicago has been a destination for rigorous inquiry and field-defining research.This transformative academic experience empowers students and scholarsto challenge conventional thinking in pursuit of original ideas. #UChicago on the Web: Home: News: Facebook: Twitter: Instagram: University of Chicago on YouTube: /uchicago *** ACCESSIBILITY: If you experience any technical difficulties with this video or would like to make an accessibility-related r

Presented by Stephen Chrisomalis, Wayne State University In any literate tradition, there are normally two graphic systems one could use to write numbers: written language, used to write numerals out in words, and numerical notation, which uses largely non-phonetic symbols (62, LXII, etc.). While in some traditions, like the Egyptian, numerical notation is overwhelmingly more common, and in others, numerical notation is almost absent, in most, writers have choice among representations - combining number words and numerical notation in a single phrase, or (as in modern checks) both side by side. The question of whether and when to write twelve thousand or 12,000 or 12 thousand was as pertinent in much of the pre-modern world as it is today. In the absence of style guides, how did ancient authors navigate these choices? Here, we investigate the multimodality of numerical expressions in antiquity, including their cognitive and social underpinnings, through a comparative survey of inscript

The looting of the National Museum of Iraq in Baghdad became one of the defining moments of the second Iraq War. Christopher Woods, the director of the Oriental Institute, one of the world’s foremost research centers on the ancient Near East, says that in moments like these when archaeology and politics intersect, archaeology becomes a kind of statecraft. Since the Gulf Wars, archaeologists have been unable to work in Iraq. But, under Woods leadership, the Oriental Institute is returning to excavations in the region. If the looting of the Baghdad museum is on one end of the archaeology as statecraft spectrum, this historic return to Iraq is on the other. Listen to the Big Brains Podcast stream on the web: You Can Subscribe to Big Brains on... Apple Podcasts: Google Podcasts: Stitcher: Spotify: Have a great idea for a Big Brains podcast episode? Pitch it to us: *** ➡ Subscribe to UChicago on YouTube: About #UChicago: Since its founding in 1890, the University of Chicago has been a desti

The Oriental Institute's special exhibit, Pioneers to the Past: American Archaeologists in the Middle East, 1919-1920, raised important questions about the links between past civilizations and modern nations, the antiquities trade, and the role museums play in preserving the past. "Who Owns the Past?" will bring together archaeologists and Chicago museum leaders to explore these issues in a conversation that will focus on ways archaeology, history, and heritage connect to today's political and cultural realities. A panel discussion concludes the lecture: Chapters: 0:00 - Welcome by Carole Krucoff, Head of Public Education 1:58 - Geoff Emberling, Chief Curator of the Oriental Institute Museum - "Who Owns the Past?" opens Emberling, discussing the issues the Pioneers to Past exhibit raises concerning previous attitudes towards antiquities and how they were obtained. 16:53 - Jim Cuno, President and Director of the Art Institute of Chicago - Cuno's recent book, Who Owns Antiquity?: Museums

"Before the Pyramids: The Origins of Egyptian Civilization" will run from March 29 to December 31, 2011, at the museum, 1155 East 58th Street. The museum holds the Chicago area's largest collection of Egyptian art and artifacts as well as galleries devoted to the other cultures of the ancient Middle East. The new exhibition shows that the most fundamental aspects of ancient Egyptian civilization — architecture, hieroglyphic writing, a belief in the afterlife, and allegiance to a semi-divine king — can be traced to Egypt's Predynastic and Early Dynastic eras more than 1,000 years before the pyramids were built. ➡ Subscribe: About #UChicago: Since its founding in 1890, the University of Chicago has been a destination for rigorous inquiry and field-defining research. This transformative academic experience empowers students and scholars to challenge conventional thinking in pursuit of original ideas. #UChicago on the Web: Home: News: Facebook: Twitter: Instagram: University of Chicago on

The Oriental Institute Museum's newest exhibit, Picturing the Past: Imaging and Imagining the Ancient Middle East, takes a look at how artists and photographers have envisioned a fragmentary past, and how the resulting images have influenced our interpretation of ancient history and culture. Enjoy this preview of what the exhibit has to offer. The exhibit runs between February 7 and September 2, 2012. For more information, visit OI.uchicago.edu/museum. ➡ Subscribe: About #UChicago: Since its founding in 1890, the University of Chicago has been a destination for rigorous inquiry and field-defining research. This transformative academic experience empowers students and scholars to challenge conventional thinking in pursuit of original ideas. #UChicago on the Web: Home: News: Facebook: Twitter: Instagram: University of Chicago on YouTube: /uchicago *** ACCESSIBILITY: If you experience any technical difficulties with this video or would like to make an accessibility-related request, please

A Panel Discussion Featuring: Tariq Ramadan, Glenn Greenwald, M. Cherif Bassiouni, and Jennifer Pitts The uprisings of the Arab Spring, and the prolonged nature of the internal conflicts in Libya and Syria, have once again sparked debate over the status of international law and the use of military intervention to enforce human rights. However, the discourse over humanitarian intervention has often overlooked the more unsavory aspects of liberal thought and Western power politics. This panel will explore the fundamental problems concerning Neo-Liberalism and its connections to the development of Neo-Orientalist thought. The panel will begin with Professor Pitts providing the historical foundations of liberal thought and its relationship with the colonialist ventures of Western European nations; Professor Bassiouni will then discuss the development of international law in the post-World War era and its use as an instrument to advance the strategic goals of great powers of the Cold War Er

The Oriental Institute was selected by the US Department of State to partner with the National Museum of Afghanistan (NMA) to play a crucial role in the first-ever inventory of the museum's holdings and assist in the conservation of Afghanistan's cultural heritage. Positioned on the Silk Road, Afghanistan was the nexus of interaction between numerous cultures, lending an international flavor to the NMA collections. Discover the wide range of treasures housed at the NMA and learn how the Oriental Institute team is ensuring that the holdings are documented and preserved in partnership with NMA staff. ➡ Subscribe: About #UChicago: Since its founding in 1890, the University of Chicago has been a destination for rigorous inquiry and field-defining research.This transformative academic experience empowers students and scholarsto challenge conventional thinking in pursuit of original ideas. #UChicago on the Web: Home: News: Facebook: Twitter: Instagram: University of Chicago on YouTube: /uchi

The 1979 Revolution in Iran incited a long cessation of archaeological fieldwork. In 1995, the Oriental Institute was the first foreign institution to gain permission to resume archaeological activities through its Iran Prehistoric Project. In his lecture, Abbas Alizadeh traces the significance and evolution of the Oriental Institute's landmark contributions to archaeology in Iran including expeditions, publications, and a research center at the National Museum. ➡ Subscribe: About #UChicago: Since its founding in 1890, the University of Chicago has been a destination for rigorous inquiry and field-defining research.This transformative academic experience empowers students and scholarsto challenge conventional thinking in pursuit of original ideas. #UChicago on the Web: Home: News: Facebook: Twitter: Instagram: University of Chicago on YouTube: /uchicago *** ACCESSIBILITY: If you experience any technical difficulties with this video or would like to make an accessibility-related request