I wrote a few weeks ago about the kerfuffle at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. The museum was set to be the final stop in a three-city tour of artifacts from the Silk Road, which included priceless mummified remains excavated from the Taklamakan Basin. Just as the show was about to open, Chinese officials abruptly refused to allow the display of the mummies, sending museum and university representatives, including Victor Mair who is closely associated both with the study and the controversies surrounding the mummies, into a Michael Vick-worthy scramble. Notices were sent, refunds issued, meetings arranged, stunt mummies deployed.
Now comes happy word from Professor Mair that the exhibit has reopened, with the actual mummies this time, as of this past Friday.
From Friday’s press conference:
On opening day, neither Museum officials nor visiting Chinese dignitaries would explain why the objects were initially blocked in Philadelphia, only saying there was a “miscommunication.”
They are now on display thanks to a desperate trip to the Chinese embassy by Mair, begging to display the mummies, if only for three weeks. The exhibition was planned to run until June, and will be open without the mummies for three