Joann Fletcher | |
---|---|
Born | Barnsley, West Riding of Yorkshire, England | 30 August 1966
Nationality | British |
Title | Honorary Visiting Professor |
Academic background | |
Education | Barnsley College |
Alma mater | University College London University of Manchester |
Thesis | Ancient Egyptian Hair: a study in style, form, and function (1995) |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Egyptology |
Website | www.immortalegypt.co.uk |
Joann Fletcher (born 30 August 1966) is an Egyptologist and an honorary visiting professor in the department of archaeology at the University of York. She has published a number of books and academic articles,including several on Cleopatra,and made numerous television and radio appearances. In 2003,she controversially claimed to have identified the mummy of Queen Nefertiti.
Fletcher was born on 30 August 1966 in Barnsley. [1] [2] [3] She was educated at Barnsley College,a sixth-form and further education college in Barnsley. [3] She studied ancient history and Egyptology at University College London,specializing in the Ptolemaic dynasty and Cleopatra.
She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1987. Fletcher then earned a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in 1996 from the University of Manchester,with a thesis on hair and wigs entitled "Ancient Egyptian Hair:a study in style,form,and function". [4] [5]
Fletcher is honorary visiting professor in the Department of Archaeology at the University of York and Head of the Local Ambassador Programme at the Egypt Exploration Society. [6] She is a consultant Egyptologist for Harrogate Museums and Arts [7] and an archaeology consultant for the museums of Wigan and Barnsley, [8] [9] for which she curated a trio of exhibitions in 2017–2018. [10]
In addition,she has contributed to galleries at the National Museum of Ireland,the Great North Museum in Newcastle,Sheffield’s Weston Park Museum,Scarborough’s Rotunda Museum,the Burrell Collection in Glasgow. In 2012,she and Dr. Stephen Buckley worked with Sheffield's Medico-Legal Centre to mummify a human body donor. [11]
Fletcher has undertaken excavation work in Egypt,Yemen,and the UK,and has examined mummies both on-site and in collections around the world.
Fletcher writes for The Guardian newspaper and the BBC History Magazine and website. She has made numerous appearances on television and radio and was lead investigator in the History Channel television series Mummy Forensics.
Her publications include The Story of Egypt,Cleopatra the Great and The Search for Nefertiti,together with guidebooks,journal articles,and academic papers. [12]
In 2003,Fletcher and a multidisciplinary scientific team from the University of York,including the forensic anthropologist,Don Brothwell,took part in an expedition to the Valley of the Kings in Egypt that was sanctioned by Zahi Hawass,then head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA). The investigation pursued a hypothesis put forward by Fletcher that one of the three mummies studied could be the mummified body of Queen Nefertiti. All three of the mummified bodies had been found among a cache of mummies in tomb KV35 in 1898. The team's scientific findings supported this and the hypothesis was included in the official report submitted to Hawass and the SCA shortly after the 2003 expedition. [13] The expedition,the result of 12 years of research,was funded by the Discovery Channel,which also produced a documentary on the findings.
Fletcher's conclusions were dismissed by a prominent group of Egyptologists (some of whom previously claimed that the mummy in question was male who was young as fifteen years old,a theory now disproven), [14] and the evidence used to support Fletcher's theories was declared as insufficient,circumstantial,and inconclusive. Archaeology,a publication of the Archaeological Institute of America,asserted that Fletcher's "identification of the mummy in question as Nefertiti is balderdash". [15] Zahi Hawass,head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities of the Egyptian Ministry of Culture,subsequently banned her from working in Egypt because he said "Dr. Fletcher has broken the rules" requiring all prominent discoveries be subject to approval by the SCA prior to publication in popular media. [15]
According to The Times newspaper,British archaeologists "leapt to her defence",however,and they reported that the research team members stood by their findings. [16] [17] [18] The team members maintained that no rules were broken,on the basis that the official report submitted to the SCA included Fletcher's hypothesis,described by others as a 'discovery',and that Hawass had been informed of what was to be put forward in the television programme prior to the Discovery Channel documentary being aired. [19]
The ban on Fletcher's research in Egypt was later lifted,and she resumed working in the Valley of the Kings in April 2008.
Tutankhamun or Tutankhamen, was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh who ruled c. 1332 – 1323 BC during the late Eighteenth Dynasty of ancient Egypt. Born Tutankhaten, he was likely a son of Akhenaten, thought to be the KV55 mummy. His mother was identified through DNA testing as The Younger Lady buried in KV35; she was a full sister of her husband.
Nefertiti was a queen of the 18th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, the great royal wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten. Nefertiti and her husband were known for their radical overhaul of state religious policy, in which they promoted the earliest known form of monotheism, Atenism, centered on the sun disc and its direct connection to the royal household. With her husband, she reigned at what was arguably the wealthiest period of ancient Egyptian history. After her husband's death, some scholars believe that Nefertiti ruled briefly as the female pharaoh known by the throne name, Neferneferuaten and before the ascension of Tutankhamun, although this identification is a matter of ongoing debate. If Nefertiti did rule as pharaoh, her reign was marked by the fall of Amarna and relocation of the capital back to the traditional city of Thebes.
Saqqara, also spelled Sakkara or Saccara in English, is an Egyptian village in the markaz (county) of Badrashin in the Giza Governorate, that contains ancient burial grounds of Egyptian royalty, serving as the necropolis for the ancient Egyptian capital, Memphis. Saqqara contains numerous pyramids, including the Pyramid of Djoser, sometimes referred to as the Step Pyramid, and a number of mastaba tombs. Located some 30 km (19 mi) south of modern-day Cairo, Saqqara covers an area of around 7 by 1.5 km.
Tiye was the Great Royal Wife of the Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep III, mother of pharaoh Akhenaten and grandmother of pharaoh Tutankhamun; her parents were Yuya and Thuya. In 2010, DNA analysis confirmed her as the mummy known as "The Elder Lady" found in the tomb of Amenhotep II (KV35) in 1898.
The Nefertiti Bust is a painted stucco-coated limestone bust of Nefertiti, the Great Royal Wife of Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten. It is on display in the Egyptian Museum of Berlin.
Zahi Abass Hawass is an Egyptian archaeologist, Egyptologist, and former Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, serving twice. He has worked at archaeological sites in the Nile Delta, the Western Desert and the Upper Nile Valley.
Smenkhkare was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of unknown background who lived and ruled during the Amarna Period of the 18th Dynasty. Smenkhkare was husband to Meritaten, the daughter of his likely co-regent, Akhenaten. Since the Amarna period was subject to a large-scale condemnation of memory by later pharaohs, very little can be said of Smenkhkare with certainty, and he has hence been subject to immense speculation.
Kiya was one of the wives of the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten. Little is known about her, and her actions and roles are poorly documented in the historical record, in contrast to those of Akhenaten's 'Great royal wife', Nefertiti. Her unusual name suggests that she may originally have been a Mitanni princess. Surviving evidence demonstrates that Kiya was an important figure at Akhenaten's court during the middle years of his reign, when she had a daughter with him. She disappears from history a few years before her royal husband's death. In previous years, she was thought to be mother of Tutankhamun, but recent DNA evidence suggests this is unlikely.
The Supreme Council of Antiquities was established in 1994 and it was responsible for the conservation, protection, and regulation of all antiquities and archaeological excavations in Egypt. a department of the Egyptian Ministry of Culture from 1994 to 2011. Originally part of the Egyptian Ministry of Culture, the Supreme Council of Antiquities became part of the independent department of the Ministry of State for Antiquites (MSA) in 2011. In 2022, the department was folded into the Ministry of Antiquities and Tourism.
Tomb KV60 is an ancient Egyptian tomb in the Valley of the Kings, Egypt. It was discovered by Howard Carter in 1903, and re-excavated by Donald P. Ryan in 1989. It is one of the more perplexing tombs of the Theban Necropolis, due to the uncertainty over the identity of one female mummy found there (KV60A). She is identified by some, such as Egyptologist Elizabeth Thomas, to be that of the Eighteenth Dynasty pharaoh Hatshepsut; this identification is advocated for by Zahi Hawass.
Tomb KV35 is the tomb of Pharaoh Amenhotep II located in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, Egypt. Later, it was used as a cache for other royal mummies. It was discovered by Victor Loret in March 1898.
Donald P. Ryan is an American archaeologist, Egyptologist, writer and a member of the Division of Humanities at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington. His areas of research interest include Egyptian archaeology, Polynesian archaeology, the history of archaeology, the history of exploration, ancient languages and scripts, and experimental archaeology. He is best known for his research in Egypt including excavations in the Valley of the Kings where he investigated the long-neglected undecorated tombs in the royal cemetery. His work there resulted in the rediscovery of the lost and controversial tomb KV60, the re-opening of the long-buried KV21 with its two female and likely royal occupants, and the re-excavation of tombs KV27, KV28, KV44, KV45, KV48, KV49 along with work in KV20. In 2017, he rediscovered three small tombs in the Valley of the Kings which when first encountered in 1906 contained the mummies of animals including a dog and monkeys.
The curse of the pharaohs or the mummy's curse is a curse alleged to be cast upon anyone who disturbs the mummy of an ancient Egyptian, especially a pharaoh. This curse, which does not differentiate between thieves and archaeologists, is claimed to cause bad luck, illness, or death. Since the mid-20th century, many authors and documentaries have argued that the curse is 'real' in the sense of having scientifically explicable causes such as bacteria, fungi or radiation. However, the modern origins of Egyptian mummy curse tales, their development primarily in European cultures, the shift from magic to science to explain curses, and their changing uses—from condemning disturbance of the dead to entertaining horror film audiences—suggest that Egyptian curses are primarily a cultural, not scientific, phenomenon.
Taposiris Magna is a city established by Pharaoh Ptolemy II Philadelphus between 280 and 270 BC. The name means "great tomb of Osiris", which Plutarch identifies with an Egyptian temple in the city.
The Younger Lady is the informal name given to an ancient Egyptian mummy discovered within tomb KV35 in the Valley of the Kings by archaeologist Victor Loret in 1898. The mummy also has been given the designation KV35YL and 61072, and currently resides in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Through recent DNA tests, this mummy has been identified as the mother of the pharaoh Tutankhamun and a daughter of pharaoh Amenhotep III and his Great Royal Wife Tiye. Early speculation that this mummy was the remains of Nefertiti was argued to be incorrect, as nowhere is Nefertiti accorded the title "King's daughter" unless this mummy was in fact a cousin of Akhenaten and not a sister
Chasing Mummies: The Amazing Adventures of Zahi Hawass is a reality television series that aired on The History Channel in the United States. Produced by Boutique TV, the series depicted the adventures of archaeologist and Egyptologist Dr. Zahi Hawass and his discoveries in Egypt as he is followed by young archeological fellows and a camera crew. The series ran Wednesdays on the History Channel from July 14, 2010 until its end on September 15, 2010. The shows illustrates the complexities in the almost never-ending quest to preserve and discover artifacts from ancient Egypt.
The mask of Tutankhamun is a gold funerary mask that belonged to Tutankhamun, who reigned over the New Kingdom of Egypt from 1332 BC to 1323 BC, during the Eighteenth Dynasty. After being buried with Tutankhamun's mummy for over 3,000 years, it was found amidst the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb by the British archaeologist Howard Carter at the Valley of the Kings in 1925. Since then, it has been on display at the Egyptian Museum in the city of Cairo. In addition to being one of the best-known works of art in the world, it is a prominent symbol of ancient Egypt.
The archaeology of Ancient Egypt is the study of the archaeology of Egypt, stretching from prehistory through three millennia of documented history. Egyptian archaeology is one of the branches of Egyptology.
Aten, properly called The Dazzling Aten though dubbed initially by archaeologists the Rise of Aten, is the remains of an ancient Egyptian city on the west bank of the Nile in the Theban Necropolis near Luxor. Named after Egyptian sun god Aten, the city appears to have remained relatively intact for over three millennia. Since excavation began in late 2020, it is emerging as the largest city of its kind in ancient Egypt, with a remarkable degree of preservation, leading to comparisons with Pompeii.