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In memory of Barry Kemp
info@museitorino.it
011 44 06 903
From Monday to Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
We have just received the very sad news of the passing of Barry Kemp, Professor Emeritus of Egyptology at Cambridge, well known for his long directorship of the excavations at Akhenaten's cult city of the Aten, Tel el-Amarna. A skilled archaeologist and scholar, Barry profoundly redefined and transformed the discipline of Egyptian settlement archaeology while training a whole generation of Egyptologists and archaeologists in the classroom and on excavation.
Photo credits: Laura Ranieri Roy
The loss to Amarna studies is devastating. It can honestly be said that Barry's long, 47-year presence and archaeological activity at the site saved Amarna from destruction. From 1977 to 2008 Barry directed the survey and archaeological excavations at Amarna for the Egypt Exploration Society, and afterward until the present day served as the Director of the Amarna Project and secretary of the Amarna Trust, allowing him to continue and expand his archaeological investigations and preservation work. It is well known that Barry's primary interest was in the broader society of Egypt and the settlement patterns of its non-elite populations, and he had few positive things to say about Egypt's ancient ruling classes. He took a dim view of Akhenaten and his family, stating that he was interested in their material culture but not particularly in their actions, which he would leave to the historians. That said, Barry and his team worked tirelessly to save the most famous 'elite' temple and palace sites at Amarna from the pressures of environmental change, modern population growth, and settlement expansion. His restrained but effective restoration work filling and capping the quarried-away foundation trenches and mud-brick walls of the Small Aten Temple and North Palace complexes not only protects the surviving walls from further erosion and decay, but also clearly delineates the sites and makes them comprehensible to scholar and tourist alike. More recently, modern cemetery expansion into the vast Great Aten Temple dictated that Barry tackle its re-excavation and limited restoration to address and halt the encroachment, a huge task that is still ongoing. Not only is this work saving the GAT site, but the re-excavation, study, and recovery of data missed by earlier investigators has resulted in enormous amounts of new information that has added - and will continue to add - many more pieces of the Amarna puzzle for our consideration. Our collective debt to Barry is beyond words.
Barry leaves a rich publication legacy. He was a prolific writer, whose Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilisation is now required reading for anyone studying Egyptology. His book The City of Akhenaten and Nefertiti: Amana and Its People, and his numerous articles and reports, most accessible at the Amarna Project web site, are rich proof of his belief in publishing in a timely manner. His regularly published Horizon, The Amarna Project Newsletter allowed the scientific community quick access to new information, and is also accessible at the web site.
https://www.amarnaproject.com/
Barry was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2011 for services to archaeology, education and international relations in Egypt. It was an honor richly deserved. To say that he will be missed is an understatement beyond words.
Photo credits: Laura Ranieri Roy
The loss to Amarna studies is devastating. It can honestly be said that Barry's long, 47-year presence and archaeological activity at the site saved Amarna from destruction. From 1977 to 2008 Barry directed the survey and archaeological excavations at Amarna for the Egypt Exploration Society, and afterward until the present day served as the Director of the Amarna Project and secretary of the Amarna Trust, allowing him to continue and expand his archaeological investigations and preservation work. It is well known that Barry's primary interest was in the broader society of Egypt and the settlement patterns of its non-elite populations, and he had few positive things to say about Egypt's ancient ruling classes. He took a dim view of Akhenaten and his family, stating that he was interested in their material culture but not particularly in their actions, which he would leave to the historians. That said, Barry and his team worked tirelessly to save the most famous 'elite' temple and palace sites at Amarna from the pressures of environmental change, modern population growth, and settlement expansion. His restrained but effective restoration work filling and capping the quarried-away foundation trenches and mud-brick walls of the Small Aten Temple and North Palace complexes not only protects the surviving walls from further erosion and decay, but also clearly delineates the sites and makes them comprehensible to scholar and tourist alike. More recently, modern cemetery expansion into the vast Great Aten Temple dictated that Barry tackle its re-excavation and limited restoration to address and halt the encroachment, a huge task that is still ongoing. Not only is this work saving the GAT site, but the re-excavation, study, and recovery of data missed by earlier investigators has resulted in enormous amounts of new information that has added - and will continue to add - many more pieces of the Amarna puzzle for our consideration. Our collective debt to Barry is beyond words.
Barry leaves a rich publication legacy. He was a prolific writer, whose Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilisation is now required reading for anyone studying Egyptology. His book The City of Akhenaten and Nefertiti: Amana and Its People, and his numerous articles and reports, most accessible at the Amarna Project web site, are rich proof of his belief in publishing in a timely manner. His regularly published Horizon, The Amarna Project Newsletter allowed the scientific community quick access to new information, and is also accessible at the web site.
https://www.amarnaproject.com/
Barry was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2011 for services to archaeology, education and international relations in Egypt. It was an honor richly deserved. To say that he will be missed is an understatement beyond words.
info@museitorino.it
011 44 06 903
From Monday to Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
