X-Raying Spacesuits & Jordanian Two-Headed Statues

The Smithsonian Event Series, giving opportunities for SI fellows and interns to check out different branches, disciplines, and projects being worked on across the Smithsonian recently made a trip out to the Museum Conservation Institute (MCI).

Ann N’Gadi, the Technical Information Specialist and Webmaster at MCI, was kind enough to give a tour to fellows and interns. She showed the different departments within MCI that conserve things from paintings to clothing to spacesuits. She described the various techniques and instruments that personnel use on a daily basis to do the labor necessary to complete whatever job is sent their way.

The tour checked out the room where MCI technicians worked on the famous ‘Ain Ghazal statues (pictured below), the oldest human form statues ever found, from a Neolithic site in Northwest present-day Jordan.