Archaeology of Egypt and Sudan

The Institute of Archaeology is at the forefront of current archaeological research in the Nile valley, with a number of projects including fieldwork, the study of objects in present-day museum collections and critical research into the history and the present practice of archaeology in Egypt and Sudan (as well as neighbouring regions of Africa and Asia). Researchers at the Institute also have an exceptional track record of applying novel methodologies - derived from diverse areas of the social and historical sciences - to archaeological material from the Nile valley.

UCL's Petrie Museum is a major resource in terms of holding material from almost all periods of Egyptian and Sudanese history, and an important place for studying the development of Egyptian archaeology in the 19th and 20th century and the impact of disciplinary history on contemporary understandings and representations of the past.

The Research Network "Archaeology of Egypt and Sudan" serves to pool this expertise. It also helps its members to multiply their resources through shared research, supervision and teaching.

Selected outputs by network members

• Ford Spora, A. 2018. Transferring Authenticity to Replica Ancient Egyptian Objects with Visitors in the Petrie Museum. https://pqdtopen.proquest.com/pubnum/13855682.html.
• Barron, A., D. Q Fuller, C. Stevens, L. Champion, F. Winchell and T. Denham 2020. Snapshots in time: MicroCT scanning of pottery sherds determines early domestication of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) in East Africa, Journal of Archaeological Science 123: 105259. DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2020.105259
• Fuller, D. Q and L. Lucas 2020. Savanna on the Nile: Long-term agricultural diversification and intensification in Nubia. In: Emberling, G. and B. B. Williams (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Nubia. OUP, Oxford.
• Varadzin, L., L. Varadzinová, D. Q Fuller and H. M. Hamdeen 2019. Unknown hafir at Jebel Shaqadud: New evidence on water management in central Sudan, Der Antike Sudan 30: 111–116.
• Brass, M., D. Q Fuller, K. MacDonald, C. Stevens, A. Adam, I. Kozieradzka-Ogunmakin, R. Abdallah, O. Alawad, A. Abdalla, I. Vella Gregory, J. Wellings, F. Hassan and A. Abdelrahman 2019. New findings on the significance of Jebel Moya in the eastern Sahel, Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 54(4). DOI: 10.1080/0067270X.2019.1691845
• Smith, O., W. Nicholson, L. Kistler, E. Mace, A. Clapham, P. Rose, C. Stevens, R. Ware, S. Samavedam, G. Barker, D. Jordan, D. Q Fuller and R. G. Allaby 2019. A domestication history of dynamic adaptation and genomic deterioration in Sorghum,  Nature Plants 5: 369–379.
• Garnett, A. 2020. ‘Ceramic Study’, in Stevens, A., ‘The North Cliffs Cemetery at Amarna’, Egyptian Archaeology 56:  7.
• Garnett, A. 2020. ‘Sudan and the Petrie Museum: Histories of Display, Scholarship and Engagement’, Archaeology International 22, 1: 66-71. http://doi.org/10.5334/ai-400.
• Garnett, A. 2019. ‘Reconstructing Fragments of Life Stories: Flinders Petrie, Freud and Egypt’, in Leonard, M., (ed.), Freud and Egypt: Between Oedipus and the Sphinx. Freud Museum London, London: 25-30.
• Garnett, A. 2019. ‘The Stone Village Ceramic Assemblage’, in Stevens, A., ‘Tell el-Amarna, Autumn 2017 and Spring 2018’, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 104.2: 23.
• Garnett, A. 2018. The Stone Village ceramic assemblage. In: Kemp, B. , Tell el-Amarna, spring 2017, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 102: 14.
• Martin, C. 2019. Demotic Papyri in the Ashmolean Museum. In: Zauzich, K.-Th. (ed.), Akten der 8. Internationalen Konferenz für Demotische Studien, Würzburg 27.– 30. August 2002. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden: 119–130.
• Martin, C. 2019. A Persian estate in Egypt: Early Demotic papyri in the British Museum. In: Naether, F. (ed.), New Approaches in Demotic Studies. Acts of the 13th International Conference of Demotic Studies, Leipzig, September 4-8, 2017. Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde: 171–190.
• Martin, C. 2018. Demotic Letters from the Sacred Animal Necropolis of North Saqqara: The Final Instalment (7–20)”, with H.S. Smith and S. Davies. In:  Donker van Heel, K., F.A.J. Hoogendijk and C.J. Martin (eds), Hieratic, Demotic and Greek Studies and Text Editions. Of Making Many Books There Is No End: Festschrift in Honour of Sven P. Vleeming. Papyrologica Lugduno-Batava 34. Brill, Leiden:  123–147
• Martin, C. 2018. Legal and administrative texts from Tebtunis in the Carlsberg Collection. In: Lippert, S., I. Guermeur and M.-P. Chaufray (eds.), Proceedings of the 6^th International Conference on the Fayyum. Montpellier: 75–88.
• Näser, C. 2024. Der Alltag des Todes: Funeräre Praktiken in Deir el-Medine im Neuen Reich, GHP Egyptology 35.
• Näser, C. 2020. Past, present, future. The archaeology of Nubia. In: Emberling, G. and B. B. Williams (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Nubia. OUP, Oxford.
• Näser, C. and Gemma Tully 2019. Dialogues in the making: Collaborative archaeology in Sudan, Journal of Community Archaeology & Heritage 6:3: 155-171.
• Näser, C. 2019. Exploring attitudes towards the archaeological past: Two case studies from majority Muslim communities in the Nile valley, Journal of Social Archaeology 19:3: 379-402.
• Quirke, S. 2018. Languages of artists: closed and open channels. In: Miniaci, G., J. C. Moreno García, S. Quirke, A. Stauder (eds.), The Arts of Making in Ancient Egypt. Voices, images, and objects of material producers 2000-1550 BC. Sidestone Press, Leiden: 175-196.
• Stevenson, A. 2020. The archival record of Petrie’s 1894–95 excavations in the Predynastic cemetery at Naqada. In: Stevenson, A. and J. van Wetering (eds). The Many Histories of Naqada. Archaeology and Heritage in a Region of Upper Egypt. Golden House Publications, London: 11–56.
• Stevenson, A. and J. van Wetering (eds) 2020. The Many Histories of Naqada. Archaeology and Heritage in a Region of Upper Egypt. Golden House Publications, London.
• Stevenson, A. 2019. Scattered Finds: Archaeology, Egyptology and Museums.  UCL Press, London.

Funding

• Qatar-Sudan Archaeological Project/Nubian Archaeological Development Organisation
• Egypt Exploration Society - Amarna Stone Village
• Egypt Exploration Society - Shalfak
• Patrons' Award, Egypt Exploration Society to fund the replicas that were used during the research on Mograt (Sudan) and donated to the Sudan Antiquities Service to be used for further engagement
• UCL Public Engagement
• Arts and Humanities Research Council – Egypt’s Dispersed Heritage
• DCMS Wolfson Foundation Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund – ‘Petrie and Edwards: Gateway to the World of Egyptology’