Daniel Polz, who was born on October 5, 1957, in Hamburg and died on October 27, 2025 [1] , was a German Egyptologist.
Daniel Polz studied Egyptology, Prehistory, and Theoretical Linguistics at Heidelberg University from 1978 to 1988. During these years, he participated in excavations at Rheinzabern, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Merimde-Beni Salâme, Thebes (Theban tombs TT296, TT41, TT373, TT54, and TT36), and Dahshur. In 1988, he wrote his doctoral thesis on tomb TT54 in Thebes, entitled "Das Grab Nr. 54 in Theben - Ein Beitrag zur Archäologie thebanischer Felsgräber" (Foreign Citation|language=de|Das Grab Nr. 54 in Theben - Ein Beitrag zur Archäologie thebanischer Felsgräber) at the Institute of Egyptology of Heidelberg University, where he also studied Pre- and Early History, Linguistics, and Classical Archaeology . Polz then became a lecturer in the Special Department of Egyptology, Archaeology, Prehistory and Protohistory, and Near East at the Heidelberg University Library. In 1989, he joined the German Archaeological Institute (DAI), Cairo branch, as a research fellow and received a DAI travel grant in 1989/1990. He subsequently continued his work as a lecturer in Cairo. From 1991, he managed the Dra' Abu el-Naga company in Western Thebes.
In 1993, Polz moved to the United States and became an assistant professor of Egyptian archaeology and history at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he was an associate professor in 1998. Since 1999, he served as the second director of the German Archaeological Institute in Cairo where he "continued to expand the project in the Theban necropolis. His work yielded substantial results for the period between 1650 and 1550 BCE, while also offering important insights into later phases, including the Ramesside era." [2] In 2006, he earned his habilitation from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich with a dissertation entitled "Der Beginn des Neuen Reiches. Zur Vorgeschichte einer Zeitenwen." Since then, Polz has been a private lecturer in Munich, alongside his work for the DAI. In 2022, the Islamic scholar Ralph Bodenstein was appointed to succeed him in Cairo.
Polz conducted research on the tombs of Theban officials, private and royal tombs of the Second Intermediate Period of Egypt and the beginning of the New Kingdom, as well as on the social and cultural history of the New Kingdom. His archaeological team also rediscovered the tomb of king Nubkheperre Intef of the 17th Dynasty of Egypt at Dra' Abu el-Naga in 2001. [3] When he retired in 2022 at age 65, the scientific direction of the German Archaeological Institute (DAI) project passed to Ute Rummel.
According to the German Archaeological Institute's Facebook account, Daniel Polz died after a long and serious illness on October 27, 2025. [4]