Hi folks, a little announcement: I’m going to be broadcasting my lectures via YouTube from now on. The first few of them will be freely available to all, and instead of paying the usual registration fee in these cases I’ll be encouraging you all to to make a small voluntary contribution via the ‘super thanks’ button (more on this below). From September 2024 I’ll be giving one new lecture each month and these will be available to channel members in the ‘Lapis’ and ‘Gold’ categories only. There will be three categories of membership altogether as follows: Level 1 2 3 Name Alabaster Lapis Go ..read more

I’m as relieved as anyone that we seem now to have left the period of COVID lockdowns behind us, but, as hard as 2020 and 2021 were, there were a few silver linings. For me, one of the most fun – and unexpected – things to have happened during those gloomy and uncertain times was that I found myself spending hours and hours playing video games for more or less the first time in my adult life. In fact, it was mainly just one game: the ancient Egypt-themed Assassin’s Creed Origins. Not only did I buy the game and a console to play it on, after a while I found myself a part of a university-funded ..read more

It seems a very long time now since I first wrote something about how the pandemic had affected my situation as a freelancer (see below). We’re still not out of the woods but as I write this I have just finished my first visit to Egypt with a group of tourists since the pandemic began and life seems to be returning to something like normal. So, the piece I wrote in April 2020 certainly needs updating, and now that I have finally been able to resume this aspect of my work, along with most others, now seems a good moment to reflect. Me – with mask on! – inside the tomb of Ramose (TT 55) in Luxo ..read more

I am very sorry to report that the geologist and Egyptologist Steve Cross – a good friend and colleague of mine – passed away last week. Steve Cross in the Valley of Kings, a few metres away from the tomb of Tutankhamun, in 2012. Steve was a geologist by training, a very knowledgeable self-taught Egyptologist, and a coastguard by profession. He was also a scouser, and a lovely bloke: shy I think, humble, passionate, full of enthusiasm, and devoid of ego. I liked him from the moment I first got to know him around twenty years ago. In the years that followed he made a name for himself by combin ..read more

Yesterday, I heard the very sad news that the Egyptologist George Hart had died. It’s always hard to lose a colleague but George was one of the nicest I have ever come across. I had no idea he was unwell, and I gather that he only received his diagnosis – of cancer, sadly – at the beginning of this month (Feb 2021). It’s a comfort to know that he wasn’t ill for long, but I am sure that he will be much missed by many people. George Hart during a reception in the Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan, The British Museum in 2011. George had degrees in Egyptology but his contribution to the field ..read more

I spent most of 2019 and a little bit of 2020 on the research and writing for Egyptologists’ Notebooks. In many cases this meant going through the papers of the thirty or so travellers, scholars and artists whose stories form the basis of the book, and more importantly the writings, sketches, maps and plans they made of sites and monuments in Egypt including some built by one of the greatest figures from the ancient world: Cleopatra. Cleopatra and her son Caesarion, Temple of Hathor, Dendera These archives included, for example, the papers of Robert Hay, James Burton, Edward William Lane, and ..read more

By Chris Stantis and Anna-Latifa Mourad The human story is replete with people migrating.  For some, the pull to move across borders was driven by such prospects as economic riches or social ideals. For many others, they felt the push of persecution, violence, war, poverty, and environmental disasters. These stories continue to play out today, and entangled within the movement are all the narratives and feelings associated with migration: hope, adventure, fear, intolerance. Those feelings too are not new to the human story.  Tomb painting of Asiatics from the ancient Near East. Note ..read more

“The dirty little secret is that some disciplines don’t need to be decolonized, they just need to be shut down entirely” “Here’s looking at you, Egyptology…” I saw these lines posted to Twitter recently. I describe myself as an ‘Egyptologist’ – see the banner of my website and the short description at the top of all my social media accounts etc. I make a living from the subject, and have been doing so for the best part of twenty years. So, I have a vested interest in the discipline not being shut down entirely. Still, I recognise that these tweets are a response to the ways in which Egyptolog ..read more

Yesterday (12 June) I listened to a very interesting discussion hosted by the Egypt Exploration Society (EES) on the subject of “Good Archaeology, Bad Archaeologists?” (for discussion online see #EESUnpackingColonialism). The talk began with a very frank and honest re-assessment, by the Society’s Director, Dr Carl Graves, of the EES’ work and place in history, focussing on the colonial context in which it began and has been operating, arguably, ever since. The EES is part of the wider problems that are part of the legacy of colonialism. So how should this be addressed? An image of Swiss Egypt ..read more

I began giving lectures online shortly after the current lockdown began, initially as part of the wonderful EES series, and have been doing so independently since. Title slide for the second of my online talks, on the period ‘After Akhenaten’. almost 700 people registered for the three performances of this one. I had initially thought they would provide a welcome distraction for me, and perhaps a few others if anyone was interested in listening in, but they’ve proven to be much more successful than I could have imagined. Lots of people have been in touch to say how much they have enjoyed them ..read more