Native American & Indigenous Studies at PennWednesday, March 1, 2017 - 6:00pm
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
3260 South Street
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104
Underwater Panthers and Their Place in the Native American Cosmos
Dr. Megan Kassabaum, Weingarten Assistant Curator, American Section, Penn Museum
Archaeologists generally agree that certain beliefs about the cosmos are broadly shared among indigenous peoples of the Americas. Though the details vary wildly, the world is generally seen as consisting of three layers—the Above World, the Middle World, and the Beneath World. While we live our every day lives in the Middle World, the Above and Beneath Worlds are inhabited by a variety of supernatural beings. One of the most intriguing characters to inhabit the Beneath World is the underwater panther, a composite creature with both feline and serpentine characteristics that is associated with the dangerous yet beneficial powers of rivers, waterfalls, whirlpools and caves.
See the Penn Museum website for more information on the Great Beasts of Legend Lecture Series.
Admission to the nine lecture series subscription:
$40 ($15 Penn Museum members); $5 single lecture advance ticket ($2 Penn Museum members); $10 at the door.