Updated with Live Photo Links: Tickets Go On Sale September 15 for Landmark Exhibition from China: 'Secrets of the Silk Road' at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia, February 5 - June 5, 2011

PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Individual tickets go on sale today for Secrets of the Silk Road -- a landmark exhibition from China making its only East Coast stop at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (Penn Museum) in Philadelphia February 5 through June 5, 2011.  Timed tickets can be purchased online at www.penn.museum/silkroad or by phone: (877)77-CLICK. Discounted group tickets are available by phone: (215)746-8183, or by email: [email protected].

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100915/DC63878)

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100915/DC63878)

The first East Coast appearance of the 3,800 year old "Beauty of Xiaohe," one of two strikingly well preserved mummies and their associated artifacts traveling from China, makes Secrets of the Silk Road an exhibition that reaches back well beyond the historic period of the Silk Road -- to tell a tale of long-forgotten peoples and cultures along the world's most famous legendary trading route.  Tall in stature and fair in complexion, the "Beauty" was excavated in 2003. She is one of hundreds of spectacularly preserved mummies, many with surprisingly Eastern European and Mediterranean features, buried in the harsh desert sands of the vast Tarim Basin of Central Asia, in the Far Western Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China.  

The "Beauty of Xiaohe," along with a bundled baby mummy ca 8th century BC, and the complete trappings of "Yingpan Man," a six-foot six-inch mummy, ca 3rd-4th century AD -- as well as a wide range of objects, 700 to 3,800 years old, from the same region, are featured in the exhibition. Objects include well-preserved clothing, textiles, jewelry, gem-encrusted gold vessels, wood and bone implements, coins and documents -- even preserved foods like wonton and flower-shaped desserts. The collection reflects the wide extent of the Silk Road trade and cultural interchange.

"This traveling exhibition of materials from half way around the world is opening new doors -- providing visitors with an unparalleled opportunity to come face to face, literally, with life in East Central Asia, both before and after the formation of the fabled Silk Routes," noted Victor Mair, University of Pennsylvania scholar, and curatorial consultant and catalog editor for the exhibition.

Organized by the Bowers Museum, Santa Ana, California in association with the Archaeological Institute of Xinjiang and the Urumqi Museum, Secrets of the Silk Road began its U.S. tour at the Bowers Museum (March 27 to July 25) before traveling to the Houston Museum of Natural Sciences, where it is on view through January 2, 2011.

Penn Museum, located at 3260 South Street on the University of Pennsylvania campus in Philadelphia, is dedicated to the study and understanding of human history and diversity. Founded in 1887, Penn Museum has sent more than 400 archaeological and anthropological expeditions worldwide. Galleries feature materials from ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Asia, Central America, and the Mediterranean World, and traditional materials from Africa and the Americas. The number for general information: (215)898-4000.

SOURCE University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology