the Museum’s Mediterranean section. Upon his return in
1948, he became curator of the section and hired Young
to fill his old job. That same year, the two men were
scouting in Turkey for potential excavation sites when
Daniel died of a heart attack at the age of 38. Young
succeeded Daniel as curator of the Mediterranean
section – and found his way to Gordion, the excavation
site that would define his scholarly career.
A formnote printed in the Fall 1957 issue of
Alumni
Horae
shared that the August 5, 1957, issue of
Life
magazine had featured the archaeological excavations
in Asia Minor under the direction of Young for the
Museum of the University of Pennsylvania.
Young was killed in a five-vehicle accident near his
home in Chester Springs, Pa., on October 25, 1974. He
was 67. The obituary in the Sunday edition of the
Phila-
delphia Bulletin
in the days after his death credited him
as the “University of Pennsylvania archaeologist who
unearthed a palace in Turkey perhaps once occupied
by King Midas of the Golden Touch.” According to infor-
mation from the University of Pennsylvania Museum
about the Gordion excavations, 17 years of digging under
Young’s direction ceased after the archaeologist’s death
and did not resume until 1988.
Now the small handful of colleagues who survived
him are left to marvel over Young’s quite different
wartime legacy.
Does knowledge of Young’s secret life change
how Bass thinks of him?
“Not one bit,” his old friend says.
“Rodney Young had a profound effect
on my life. I owe more to him than
anyone I’ve ever worked with. He was
an extraordinary human being.”
“Besides,” Bass adds, “lots of us have
secrets.”
This article originally appeared in the
November 2012 issue of
The Pennsylvania
Gazette,
the alumni magazine of the Uni-
versity of Pennsylvania. It has been modi-
fied somewhat from its original version
using information held in the St. Paul’s
School archives.
.
Young directed the Penn Museum’s 24-year-long
excavation at Gordion in Turkey.
29
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