Visiting the anthopology pod at MSC

Last week, Carlos and I were able to take a private tour (with a few other Smithsonian staff) of the anthropology pod (or the anthro-pod as I like to call it) at the Museum Support Center. This pod contains lots of really neat artifacts and collections. We first looked at the Terry Collection: human remains that comprise one of the most studied collections in the world (for pathology, forensics, history, etc.). We examined many old Peruvian skulls, learning about what different facial traumas and diseases look like on crania, then we looked at more really neat stuff in the mummy room. We saw a mummy from Peru and shrunken heads from the Amazon (while learning about different levels of shrunken head fakery -- some heads were sloths but most were human). We even were able to see a mummified bull -- one of only three known to exist!  This was a very unique opportunity to see more of the treasures housed in Smithsonian storage~

 

 

On another note, Carlos and I leave for Washington state and California tomorrow. We will be gone for about two weeks. I still have some things to blog about (like my Dad visiting DC for a couple of days) so I should have more adventures up soon!