U. museum skull on three-year, cross-country trip

Two men travelling the country with a skull named "Ed" are actually carrying a piece of the University Museum with them. John Knoebber and National Geographic photographer Louis Psihoyos borrowed the skull of 19th century paleontologist Edward Cope from the University Museum three years ago to use for photographic purposes -- but they ended up using it for far more. According to Alan Mann, curator of Physical Anthropology at the museum, the original understanding was that the specimen would be lent out for "a couple of days." But days turned into months, and months turned into years, with no sign of Cope. "That's the last we saw of it," Mann said. "We have other things to think about, and never looked for it." In the time that followed, Psihoyos and Knoebber carted "Ed" along with them during cross-country research for their book about dinosaurs. Yet for all the ballyhoo over their traveling companion and the uproar that followed, Mann said the skull is probably not even that of Cope. He explained that two lines of evidence point in this direction. First, archives from the 1970s indicate that Cope's skull was borrowed during this time and never returned. And the catalog number assigned to the skull taken by Psihoyos and Knoebber was copied over a second scratched-out number, a clear sign that something was awry in the record-keeping. "I don't know whose skull it is, to be quite honest," Mann said. "The real skull disappeared. We don't know where it went to." Janet Monge, keeper of skeletal collections at the Museum, agreed. "I'm pretty sure that it isn't the specimen Cope," she said. "I think that it is a substitute." The jet-setting life of the artifact will come to an end today, when it is scheduled to be returned to Museum officials. Monge anxiously awaits the reunion. Despite the uncertain identity of the skull, she said it was intended for museum life rather than days cavorting around the country. "We never would have given permission for anything like that," she added. "It was an inappropriate use of a research specimen. Cope or not Cope, it doesn't matter." "It's a very sordid story," Mann said. According to a report in The Philadelphia Inquirer, Cope was a famous paleontologist, known for his racist, sexist and anti-Semitic attitudes. His wish in life was for his body to be classified as the "type specimen" for Homo sapiens, which would make his body the official benchmark for human study. Cope's donation of his skeleton is not unusual in light of 19th century scientific practices, Mann explained. During this relatively non-technological era, researchers used such remains to try to discover the secrets of the gifted and talented. "In the 19th century, there was a very large interest in the study of the brains of famous people ... to tell the difference between an also-ran and a genius," he said. He added that the University community was most likely an active participant in this research. "On the Penn campus, there are probably a large number of remains of famous people," Mann said. The mystique of paleontology has since disappeared, but the myth has been replaced by the sureness of science. "Now you look at people, and you think they are kind of weird if they do that," Mann said. As for "Ed's" future potential as an archaeological icon, Mann confirmed that the skull will pursue a closed-door, academic life. "We'll put it back in the collections," he said. "If you take a Physical Anthropology course, you might see it." And Mann added that he does not envision any legal retribution against Psihoyos and Knoebber. "There's not a heck of a lot we can do to them," he said. Monge disagrees, but said that legal action is not the focus of the incident. "I don't know that there is nothing we can do," she said. "The point is that we just want the specimen back."