What Was Life Like in Ancient Mesopotamia?
In this video I team up with none other than my favorite Near East archaeologist and Bagdad Battery skeptic: Dr. Brad Hafford. Career archaeologist and fellow KZhead teacher (@artifactuallyspeaking) Dr. Hafford takes us on a tour through the collections of the Penn Museum in Philadelphia. We will see ancient pottery, mysterious incantation bowls inscribed with long forgotten curses and the spectacular golden artifacts of royalty. Join us as we walk the galleries of this premier institution and learn first hand from experts the stories it has to tell.
Come check out the Penn Museum for yourself!
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Chapters:
00:00 Intro
01:23 The Nippur Excavation
02:39 Stratigraphy in an Ancient City
04:40 Pottery Through Time
06:57 Records of the First Dig
08:55 Incantation Bowls
10:35 "Meet the People" Ancient Inhabitants of the Near East
12:19 Trades, Payments and Ancient Scam Artists
15:03 Ancient Faith
17:32 Bulls Head Lyre
20:36 The Ram in the Thicket
23:44 The High Fashion of Queen Nin Puabi
27:35 Coming Up...
28:04 Credits and Thank Yous
Milo's epic levels of "fanboy kiddo" around Dr Hafford is glorious and I'm here for it. Such wholesome goodness!
I came to comment exactly this and I'm glad I'm not alone 😂 his excitement is overflowing
I love that he embraced someone offering more information.
Thank you for making the observation I was just thinking this exact same thing!
It’s so awesome to see Milo’s respect & admiration for Dr. Hafford but *also* Dr. Hafford’s obvious respect for Milo as well as his clear happiness & excitement for Milo’s dedication & excitement for archeology & history as basically the next generation of archeologist/historian. Which I think the fact Milo true shares Dr. Hafford’s fascination with, respect for & acknowledgement of the importance of artifacts owned & used by average people as well as the tradesmen/women who made such items is a big part of their shared professional respect for one another. Since quite often young & even older archeologists and even historians try to focus almost solely on one or more of the following: the lives of the various rulers, the richest members of a society, the religious aspects &/or the military. Which even if someone is interested in & focused on all of the people who are members of those aspects of a society…that is *still ignoring* the *vast majority* of the people who make up a society! Of course for over 2 centuries of archeology there was & to a certain extent still is a very practical reason for focusing primarily on those at the top levels of society due to wealth, power & influence. That being in order to obtain funding for exploration & digs early archeologists *HAD* to both get & keep the interest of rich supporters/investors &/or their government as well as often the government in charge of where the dig was located. And the literal riches & most elaborate items were & in many cases still are the most impressive as well as valuable examples from past civilizations & cultures. Of course the fact that until relatively recently artifacts were often simply sold to private individuals rather than museums & that such sales not only funded further digs but made such archeologists & their investors rich is another reason for such focus. Not to mention that early in archeology the “archeologists” were either themselves actually just rich individuals looking for riches with or without any true interest is learning or preserving history OR the archeologist was hired by a single or small group of very wealthy individuals to find valuable, interesting &/or impressive artifacts for their employer. Which is why so many items, context & even entire sites were lost &/or destroyed by early “archeologists” who only cared about items which were impressive, beautiful &/or valuable by modern standards.😕 Thankfully *now* people actually want to know & understand how not only the upper class & military lived/functioned but about societies/cultures as a whole…with a growing amount of people interested in what life was like for average people/families. Which makes me happy as someone with a duel major in psychology & sociology plus a minor in history who is extremely interested in how average citizens lived, worked, played, etc. Which is also why I enjoy learning from both these archeologists/historians so much!
@@andrewheller8597 He was excited about it. It was really cool to see and gave me so much respect for Milo.
Good to see Dr. Hafford and Milo teaming up! What a treat.
Along with Ea-Nasir.
Honestly these are the collaborations I live for.
@@CodyosVladimiros Aw hell nah, Milo joined in on the CryptoCopper scam
sick crossover!!!
an absolute treat yea
I'm a lifelong Philadelphian, and the Penn Museum is one of the most underrated places in the city. Anyone reading this who gets the chance should absolutely check it out.
Such a highlight when I went to school in Philly. Mutter museum is up there too, imo.
Btw is it always sunny there?
As a South Jerseyian, I fully agree!!
@@MrApple-yw9vp Not today certainly
I live basically down the street from it.. (I live near the college of sciences rather than UPenn, near Clark Park in west philly..). I've lived in Philly for most of my adult life.. (I'm 53). I haven't been there in a good bit to be honest but it's always been such an amazing place.. this vid really makes me itch to make a visit to be sure.. been too long.. Also have a few friends and neighbors who work and have worked for it or Penn Archeology related things.. Philly has a lot of amazing museums and places.. The Mutter is of course another fav and our Art Museum is also pretty great too. Lotta history and amazing things that often gets overshadowed by our horse poop eating sports fans, lol.. sigh.
As a PhD student of Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology at Penn, (Brad is one of my advisors in fact), I am so happy that you came to our museum and got a tour from Brad. All of us who work here love it so much and those of us who specialize in the Ancient Near East have such a wonderful community here, and I am so glad you got to see part of it. Next time you come to Penn let me know, I can show you the tablet room, and the Grad Students would love to take you out for a drink!!
Commenterino for the algorithmerino
That would be great as a separate video! "Archaeology students today" kind of thing.
@@maryeckel9682 I only want to see that video if it includes some context or discussion about the ethics of modern archaeology and museums. Rightfully, these artifacts should be offered back to the people from whom they were taken, rather than saying "finders keepers" with important pieces of their history.
@@marinakesawa7470 I assumed that as part of the discussion with the students.
Ohmigosh I want this to happen so much
When I was 10 years old a friend's father came to school to talk about his work as an archaeologist. Years later I brought it up to him and he told me how he'd been overwhelmed by our genuine awe. Your videos make me feel exactly like how I did then- fascinated by the past and very hopeful for the future. Thank you!
Thats how new archaeologists are born hahaha
The man, the myth, the legend. 0:37 the excitement on your face is hilarious but amazing/relatable 😭
right ?put me instantly in a good mood :)
yea, we all need someone in our life that looks at us how milo looks at the prof at 0:43 :p
More than two professional archeologists, they just look like two nerds just nerding out about something they love, and I'm here for it!!! What a wonderful gift to be able to hear you both
Dr. Hafford absolutely killing it with the tour! I got unreasonably excited when Ea Nassir was mentioned 😂
IKR! All like “I KNOW HIM!!”
*Leonardo DiCaprio pointing meme* HEY IT'S THAT COPPER MERCHANT GUY!
God Milo this was SO good and well put together. I was utterly transfixed. I'd absolutrly LOVE to see a series of this kind of thing where you go to different museums who are connected to specific digs and have people who are specialists on the exhibits and/or were there when the items were dug. I was utterly captivated. MORE!
9 m😊
Yesss hope this becomes a series, down the US East Coast at least
@@kyetes.866 Im up here in Toronto and it would be cool to see stuff from my country and city too ^-^. A museum tour and meet and greet would be amazing.
Same! With him getting invited to turkey, and now this, it seems possible and I'm here for it! I'm sure some archologists would love a chance to talk freely to someone genuinely interested in educating people!
@@maromania7 oh yeah! Good point!
Mad that the mesopotamians had the period equivalent of blue checkmarks and just carried them around 🤯. Top notch content as always, you can really feel how excited Milo was to see this museum and talk to Dr. Hafford, who might i add is an absolute star. Loved the tour!
I absolutely love archeological items that show "Wow, they really were just like us"
I love going to museums, but can’t usually make it out of my local area to see them. I would absolutely love more museum “tours” like this with this kind of amazing context!
Same
This is unbelievably cool. Thank you, Milo, for filming this. And a big thanks to Dr. Hafford for giving us this tour!
This is a great team up to see; I found Dr Hafford’s channel via his vid on Milo’s Baghdad Battery vid, so it’s nice to see you guys continuing a cordial relationship. Hopefully we’ll get more team up vids in future every now and again. The impression of a child’s footprint is a nice find as although it falls into the ‘boring’ category of artefacts it also serves to help connect us to these ancient peoples and show how in some respects they’re not as alien and as far removed from us as we might think at first; as Milo said, it’s something we still do to this day. Regarding the ‘queen’ that has no documentation of her existence; maybe she’s someone who was expunged from official records somehow? Don’t know if it happened in Mesopotamia but aren’t there several examples in Egypt of pharaohs deliberately trying to wipe out traces of a predecessor even going to such lengths as defacing monuments and the like to replace said predecessor with their own name/image?
That's a reasonable idea about Puabi. She fascinates me, and I hope we can find out more about her.
They did that in Egypt with Hatshepsut, the female Pharoah. Tried to erase her existence.
This was a rare and special treat, to see archaeologists discussing artifacts and history in a relaxed environment. No stuffy nose-in-the-air attitude or pressure to maintain an air of tantalizing mystery. Just two folk talking about what we do and don't know and getting excited about all of it. I loved it and can't wait for part 2!
This is how schooling is supposed to be. Imagine how many more people would find and follow fulfilling passions if we made a concerted effort to return to and refine Socratic teaching. Edit: For some reason Dr. Hafford shrugging and going "oh yeah, it's a magic bowl" got me laughing way too hard. I love how much you can see he enjoys sharing this fascinating look into ancient lives.
I love museums, but there is no way I could visit all of them. This video makes the museum accessible to those that can't travel to see it in person. I really appreciate this type of content. Please do more!
My wife’s niece was married in the Egyptian room at Penn. This is an impressive museum and I wish we could have spent more time there.
The amount of times I've been to a museum, looked at archeological findings and thought 'wow this is pretty cool'. But having that extra layer of historical context from an expert, takes it to the next level! Super inspiring!
Wow its so cool to see Dr Hafford and you together in person! I started watching Dr Hafford’s videos and it’s been very fun.
To imagine you started by making fun of idiots on the internet while going to college, and now you’re getting a personal tour of a museum!! I’m so proud of you, and what you have accomplished!!
I'm excited to see part 2. It's super cool that you and Dr. Hafford teamed up for this!
Part 2... WOOOOHOOOO I m8ssed that bit😅
Ngl when he said "aliens" and "atlantians" Dr Hafford's reaction was gold 😂
Making friends through the Bagdad battery, how beautiful
Milo this is so cool! Good to see Dr Hafford again
I love hearing two people who are passionate about a subject talk to each other and ask each other questions about said subject. I feel like i learn more. I may not always understand but i learn more and i love it.
The power of an honest and humble exchange between academically minded people. Does a wonderful job of restoring my hope in humanity.
Respect to Milo for having the foresight to not let his content get pigeonholed into being “the debunk guy”
this kinda thing is really the best part of academia: two professional nerds just nerding out together 🤌 the vibes are immaculate
Sumerian artifacts and theories regarding the ways they lived are so fascinating. I could watch videos like this for hours on end. Phenomenal production and incredible information! Thank you to both Milo and Dr. Hafford!
2 out of 3 of my favourite archaeologists. Shame Indiana Jones wasn't available. I love how enthusiastic you both are its great you got to meet up and what an amazing museum.
That b roll at the start was fantastic. Honestly shows how much effort you put in to your videos
This was such a delight, and I absolutely cannot wait until the next video release. Milo seems to be having such a fantastic time, and it warms my heart to see someone get to live their best life and pursue their dreams. It's so wholesome.
I have terrible kidneys so every six months I have to go to chop hospital for a check up and the pen museum is literally right across the street so I’ve been there quite a few times. It is a wonderful place.
I'm a huge fan of Sumerian and Mesopotamian culture. I admittedly don't know very much about it, but I've been enraptured by it since I first read "The Epic of Gilgamesh." This video was really educational and I loved learning about the history and culture Near East throughout it
Philly is my native city, and this museum is definitely one of the secret treasures there. I was last at the Penn Museum in Spring 2019, and it looks like they really changed the Mesopotamia Exhibit since then. Then again, that time, I spent most of my time in the Egyptian exhibits, so maybe I missed some stuff from the Nippur and Ur excavations.
7:52 the way he says “he built a house on top of the ziggurat and just lived out there” is so great. It’s nice to hear someone that passionate about their work.
Man do i love your content i hope you never stop bro! You bring much joy to your entire community
you can really tell how much your channel values honesty and education in your collaborating with another creator who not only challenged one of your videos at length, but that you already responded to in another video with acceptance of his criticism and thanks for his input. wonderful work as always!
Milo, thank you so much for this video! I am an artist with a keen interest in ancient goddess mythology, especially the goddess Inanna, Queen Puabi, and Mesopotamia in general. My bucket list includes going to the Penn Museum to see Queen Puabi's jewelry and artifacts! I have become a fan of your work over the last year, and this video is among my favorites. A request: I would be delighted to see you examine the work of archeologist Dr. Marija Gimbutas about Neolithic goddess mythology. Also, I'd like to see you visit any Paleolithic cave art sites, such as the Chavet Cave replica museum in France. I am looking forward to your reports from Gobekli Tepe!
You can tell how absolutely giddy milo is through this whole video. Glad he's having fun
Dude is so giddy to be meeting Dr. Hafford, I love it.
Make this a series! Not just the Penn but if you could get tours of other museums that would be so cool, great work Milo!
Whattt Milo at the Penn Museum?? Lol, I work here how did I not know? Glad you got to see it!
This is brilliant, I love how Milo is asking all these follow-up questions for those in the crowd (me, and I imagine many others) don’t know the answers to. I assume he may not be that knowledgeable about it himself but either way, incredible educational interviewing going on!!
I didn't think i would watch the entire video, but the enthusiasm and excitement you both portrayed pulled me in until the end. Well done
I couldn't be here on time cuz I was studying Hebrew but omfg I'm beyond excited that you both met up
I love how you can see just how much he enjoys this, idk why but seeing someone so genuinely joyous and enthusiastic about their interests just makes me so happy
Museums are wonderful places. I used to spend a couple of weeks during the summer staying at my aunt's place in London. I'd go to visit The South Kensington Museums, The Natural History Museum, The Science Museum, The Geological Museum and The Victoria & Albert Museum. Then on other days The British Museum and Library, the library is now out at Kew. Last but by no means least was The National Maritime Museum and Royal Observatory at Greenwich. There were others I used visit but they are too numerous to mention. My favourite was The Natural History Museum, a close second was the Geological Museum. I can close my eyes and still see the rooms, in my minds eye, there's a very particular smell I associate Faith each museum. This one looks magnificent. Thank you Milo, I hope your adventure in Turkey is going well. I'm now disabled so guys like your good self, take me places I can no longer go. So thank you! Be safe, and always stay free. 🔥😈🔥
Faith read with, autocabbage!🙃
Love that you two combined your archeological forces to make this!
I got to see the Sumer exhibit about 20 years ago when it was leant to the Tenn. State Unv. in Knoxville's museum. The harp was HUGE. The Queen's crown of gold leaves was stunning. The goat in the tree was squished flat when it was found. It took the restorer some 3 years to painstakingly return it to its 3D shape.
omg the figurine of the goat or sheep with the flowers is amazing-seeing this I need to do sth with my left over clay.....its great to see that "esthetic " is understood in every place and time. great video!
You know my favorite thing about milo is how humble he is. When the Baghdad battery video came out, Mr. Brad made a video reviewing Milo’s. Milo took that criticism and made a better and more accurate video. He held no animosity nor was prideful. This is what I love to see. Two intelligent people who respect each other. Too many people break down and cry over the slightest criticism.
That was amazing, I really enjoyed this a ton, and I'm really glad that you got to make this. Now i need to plan a trip to the Penn Museum this year.
I love seeing you two teaming up! This is amazing! I was hoping for this collaboration ever since the Baghdad Battery videos.
Extra amazing thanks to Dr. Hafford for taking the time to host you for this great video! Thank you to both of you!
Than both of you so much for taking the time to meet up and film this. I get so much more from exhibits when someone who loves the subject talks about it
Thanks for this channel Milo! I’ve always enjoyed history videos but your channel is the first I have found which actually keeps me engaged and interested in a wide variety of topics.
Milo you are so amazing at asking the right questions and keeping things interesting. I watch every one of your videos and I'm always amazed at how you carry yourself when doing interviews. You can really tell how passionate you are about learning and educating others. I cant wait to see all the stuff from your recent trip! I hope you continue to do things like this and I hope I can be apart of one of your adventures in the future!
Hey Milo, great video. I just wanna say, your channel and the content you put out is one of the greatest piece of general media of the decade. The ability you have to entertain and educate at the same time is uncanny. Thank you for such amazing content. Can't wait for part 2.
This is great, I love how you always find new ways to produce content that is informative and interesting. I love the new idea for this series and I hope there are more episodes.
Really enjoyed that! Brilliantly edited by Gianfranco yet again. Excellent interview and showcasing. Great work Milo! Looking forward to the next installment.
Oh man. Wish I knew you were heading over there. I live in the area and have an membership to the museum. Have been there so many times. Would have loved to run into you there.
Thank you so much for this tour! Its always wonderful to get a glimpse into museums of other states and countries. Best wishes from Germany!
This video filled me with nostalgia for my years in college studying archaeology and working at our school’s museum. I feel grateful to be visiting these amazing finds virtually, thank you!!
i'm so excited for the other video with those individual artifacts!! i'd love to see more museum tours like this, if possible... what an amazing opportunity this was! i'd never be able to end a tour like that bc i'd never run out of questions to ask the experts...
You should have visited a few months earlier, you could have crashed my wedding. We got married in the Penn Museum's Egyptian hall, which you can see their archives from, it was fun watching grad students realize what was happening and photo bomb our wedding pics.
So glad to see you these two together
This may be my favorite KZhead channel at this point. I fiend for your videos. This gentleman was absolutely splendid to listen to. I absolutely loved this content and can't wait for the rest. Hope you enjoyed/are enjoying your trip! Be safe brother!
Oh I absolutely loved every second of this! I so hope you will do more museum tours. Can't wait for the next part
This is such a great video, Milo! I could tell just how excited both you and Dr. Hafford were to talk about these things and just geek out. Can't wait to see the next part!
man this is just to cool. Kinda crazy how far this channel has come
Amazing stuff!! Thanking you for giving some of us layfolk more access to learning and seeing these important pieces of history. Great team up -- can't wait for more!
This is the content I love! Keep it up. I love your channel!
14:30 The mercantile aspect _is_ really interesting. I wonder how people at the time thought about wealth, relative value and exchange. Like how a modern person equates certain items to $X value. Would they have equated various daily items to a particular weight of silver, or would the average person have thought about them through a different lens, such as how much grain they could have instead, and how many days of food that would be. While it's impossible to know for sure, it's fun to speculate. And it can be a self-reflective process as well, considering one's similarities and differences to people in the past.
I'd love to see an analysis of different sets of weights to find out if Ea Nasir was actually cheating his clients
So interesting!!! I wish there were more of these exclusive tours with interesting details. (I like watching the ones from the British Museum) Ea-Nasir.... so we finally meet! That piece of history is so funny!!
Your video is the 5000th KZhead video i’ve 👍 with this account And it is the best video to be this number!! Loved your excitement, the information, the editing, the music! Can’t wait for part two! ❤️
Great video. Glad you got to meet Dr. Hafford. I was wondering if that was going to happen eventually. This was a great video to collaborate on. I'm going to start it again and pause to look at the artifacts on exhibit just so I can get a better look at them. I'm really looking forward to the next video, and your series on Göbekli Tepe.
This was so fun to watch! I didn’t even have to touch grass to get the museum experience. Thanks, Milo!
This is so fascinating. I especially loved the demon bowls, definitely gonna use that in some horror writing in the future lol! Please do more of these for more museums
Wonderful to see this channel grow! Thank you for your very insightful and interesting videos!
This is the kind of content I love. And the fact that this happened because of a series of reaction videos makes the story all so much better. I have much excite for the future things coming down the pipeline
Dam your nearly at a mil subscribers well done man been here since day one.
Always a good day when Milo uploads
It great to see you and Dr. Hafford collaborating on this video. His take on this civilization from being at the digs is invaluable and a lot of fun. You could really start a fashion trend with silver wire rings in your hair.
Thank you for the video Milo. I absolutely love how human you make these ancient people sound, most others fail to do so. truly incredible.
can tell bros excited just from the first 5 seconds
This is Nanni. I’ve been hunting that SOB Ea-Nasir for 3,750 years. If you just point me in the right direction, I’ll finally have my revenge.
This was absolutely fascinating Milo. I highly encourage you to do more of these.
I was ready for hours of this. I can't wait for the rest of the series!
Milo's excitement is barely contained and I'm loving every nanosecond of it
I'm sure this video is lovely, I know that I will watch it all the way thru and enjoy listening to you and the experts in their fields. I would just like everyone on this video to reflect on how the Penn museum has operated, how they obtained many of the artifacts in their collection, and the many many apologies that the museum has had to issue and has yet to issue. I go to school at Drexel (right next door, kinda share a campus), I remember finding out that one of the MOVE victims was being shown to students at Penn. Students here still talk about how fucked up the drexel and penn museums are, there's a lot of work to be done.
Milo, I love your videos. I learn new concepts AND I have noticed I am always smiling at the end of each one! Very satisfying. Thank you.
Milo this is so exciting!! I can't believe you even got Dr. Hafford give us a tour! Absolutely in awe of the artefacts here and the stories behind them. I hope this becomes a series ❤
Not a single pen on display during the entire tour. Disappointing.
No views after 16 seconds fell off hard
Amazing tour, Milo--thank you so much for that! You asked some really good questions that allowed Dr. Hafford to teach us about these fascinating artifacts. I don't know when I will next be in Philadelphia, but I will definitely pay a visit to the museum when I am. Looking forward to part two!
Milo this is beautiful and I cant wait for part two. Looking forward to more amazing informational/educational content. Also shoutout to the patreons who help keep this free and available for everyone!!!
this was an absolute delight! your excitement was contagious, and these exhibits were fascinating
This is so cool! I started following Dr. Hafford after your videos in dialogue with each other, and seeing you officially collaborate now is so fun!
This was an amazing glimpse to the past with amazing chemisty to walk us through it. A great ride I cant wait for part two, youre living the dream :)
This is great! Two smart, enthusiastic, intellectually generous people joining together to 'show and tell' about what they love. It doesn't get better than this.