Barry J Kemp
Biographic Data
| ID | 377825 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Barry J Kemp |
| GIVEN NAMES | Barry J |
| FAMILY NAME | Kemp |
| SIGNATURE | KEMP B J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Cambridge |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 92 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 76 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 92 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1963 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Pigeons and papyrus at Amarna: The birds of the Green Room revisited
Ancient Egyptian art features many carefully observed depictions of wild animals and birds. A famous example is the late Eighteenth Dynasty (fourteenth-century BC) wall paintings of the Green Room in the North Palace at Amarna, where naturalistic depictions of birds feature prominently. Their taxonomic identity, however, is not resolved in all cases. Here, the authors revisit the facsimiles produced in the 1920s by Nina de Garis Davies. Mindful o…
Signs of Burning at Ancient Towns
Many ancient long-occupied town sites in Egypt show signs of burning or combustion of walls and of adjacent soil, mostly through changes of colour towards red. This is not necessarily a sign that the towns had been subject to major fires above ground. It is more likely to be evidence that underground combustion had developed from accidental causes. Once started, such combustion maintains itself for long periods and is almost impossible to extingu…
Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilization
Tell el-Amarna, Spring 2017
The spring 2017 season at Amarna focused on excavation at the large pit-grave cemetery adjacent to the North Tombs, the results of which support the suggestion, made after an initial field season in 2015, that this is a cemetery for a labour force involved in building and maintaining the city of Akhetaten. Post-excavation work was also undertaken on pottery from the Stone Village, reliefwork from Kom el-Nana and a new study of burial textiles fro…
Tell El-Amarna, 2016
The security situation in Minia Province after January 2016 prevented fieldwork. The reports presented here cover work done at the expedition house in the latter part of 2015 and cover primarily the first report on an assemblage of bird bones, which are probably the remnants of offerings at the Great Aten Temple, and the first report on human bones from the North Tombs Cemetery
Tell El-Amarna, 2014–15
Three separate field projects were undertaken between late 2014 and early 2015. The first was a re-examination of a small workshop in the southern part of the city first located by the EES in 1922. The second was a further period of re-examination of the front part of the Great Aten Temple. The results add to the sense of disconnection from the cult of the Aten as portrayed in the tomb pictures. The third is a new venture, the excavation of a cem…
Tell El-Amarna, 2014
In the spring of 2014 the expedition returned to work at the Great Aten Temple. The programme combined re-clearance and fresh study of more of the area towards the front of the temple, accompanied by a continuation of the scheme to represent, in new materials, the original outlines of the building. This was followed by a period of study and conservation which embraced human bones and hair from the South Tombs Cemetery, decorated stonework and mor…
Tell El-Amarna, 2012–13
Several periods of fieldwork and study are covered in this report. Two separate excavations were made at the South Tombs Cemetery, near the end of 2012 and in the spring of 2013. Having reached the intended target of 400 individuals for analysis, no further excavation is planned for the immediate future. The Great Aten Temple also saw two seasons, in the autumn of 2012 and run as a survey field school, and in the spring of 2013. This was followed…
Life, death and beyond in Akhenaten's Egypt: Excavating the South Tombs Cemetery at Amarna
The authors report a summary of the results of six seasons of excavation at one of the cemeteries of Tell el-Amarna, the celebrated city of the 'monotheistic' revolutionary, Akhenaten. The osteology shows a workforce enduring stress and injuries to bone and muscle. The burial rites indicate low investment and personal interpretations as to spiritual meaning. In this exploration of a slice of a whole Egyptian urban society, the contrast between th…
Tell El-Amarna, 2011–12
Two periods of fieldwork are covered in this report. The first, from late 2011, was primarily a further season of excavation at the South Tombs Cemetery, which saw an exploratory trench run across the flat wadi floor, confirming that it had, at least in part, been used for burials. A notable find was of a decorated wooden coffin that included an image of a canine-headed god. A programme of repairs at the North Palace was also completed. The secon…
Tell El-Amarna, Spring 2011
This report on the 2011 spring season at Tell el-Amarna describes a geophysics survey that had to be closed prematurely, a month-long continuation of research on the Amarna period human remains from the South Tombs Cemetery, and progress on completing a major publication on the North palace
Tell El-Amarna, 2010
This report on the 2010 season at Tell el-Amarna mostly summarises the findings of excavations at the South Tombs Cemetery (where a further new excavation area was begun) and the study of the Christian remains associated with the tomb of Panehsy (no. 6)
Tell El-Amarna, 2008–9
This report on the 2008–9 seasons at Tell el-amarna mostly summarises the findings of excavations at the Stone Village and South Tombs Cemetery (where a second excavation area was begun), the study of the Christian remains around the tomb of Panehsy (no. 6), the results of a geophysical survey at the North City, and a programme of repairs carried out at the North Palace
Underneath Ranefer's floors – urban environments on the desert edge
Tell El-Amarna, 2007–8
This report on the 2007–8 seasons at Tell el-Amarna summarises continued work on the Stone Village, South Tombs Cemetery, the desert GPS survey, and the study of the Christian remains around the tomb of Panehsy (no. 6). As an experiment to complement the surveys, a 3D laser scanner was used for landscape studies at several points. No building repair work was undertaken. Post-excavation work covered charcoal, human bones (involving a larger team f…
Tell EL-Amarna, 2006–7
This report on the 2006–7 seasons at Tell el-Amarna summarises continued work on the Stone Village, the South Tombs Cemetery, the house of Ranefer, and the desert GPS survey. A new survey was undertaken of the Christian remains in the tomb of Panehsy (no.6), and repair work continued on the North Palace and Small Aten Temple. Post-excavation work focussed on the study of pottery from the Middle Egypt survey, leather fragments from excavations in …
Fieldwork, 2004–05
The First Millennium bc: Temple Enclosure or Urban Citadel
The first millennium bc brought warfare to the interior of Egypt on a significant scale. We have two vivid records, one written and the other pictorial. The former is a first-person narrative of the Napatan (Sudanese) king Piankhy who, having gained control of the south of Egypt, embarked in 730 bc on a methodical subjugation of the rest of the country, then under the rule of several local families. During the seemingly irresistible northward pro…
Egypt's Invisible Walls
City walls invite functionalist explanations. It is at first sight easy to deduce why they were built. Where contemporary written and pictorial evidence survives, however, the subject begins to take on a cognitive dimension. Did people at the time really perceive them as we are apt to imagine? The subject has been extensively discussed in the context of medieval Europe where contemporary pictures and contemporary accounts can be set against the a…
Final Remarks: Protecting Assets
How people have classified things is one of the defining aspects of cognitive archaeology. Here we have been looking at the most obvious physical manifestations of protection, namely large enclosure walls
Fieldwork, 2001-02: Sais, Delta Survey, Memphis, Tell el-Amarna
Penelope Wilson, Jeffrey Spencer, David Jeffreys, Paul Nicholson, Barry Kemp, Fieldwork, 2001-02: Sais, Delta Survey, Memphis, Tell el-Amarna, The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, Vol. 88 (2002), pp. 1-21
Fieldwork, 2001–02
Fieldwork, 2000-01: Sais, Tell Mutubis, Delta Survey, Memphis, Tell el-Amarna, Qasr Ibrim
Penelope Wilson, Jeffrey Spencer, David Jeffreys, Paul Nicholson, W. Raymond Johnson, Janine Bourriau, Barry Kemp, Pamela Rose, Fieldwork, 2000-01: Sais, Tell Mutubis, Delta Survey, Memphis, Tell el-Amarna, Qasr Ibrim, The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, Vol. 87 (2001), pp. 1-22
Fieldwork, 2000–01
Fieldwork, 1999-2000: Sais, Memphis, Tell El-Amarna, Tell El-Amarna Glass Project, Qasr Ibrim
Penelope Wilson, David Jeffreys, Janine Bourriau, W. Raymond Johnson, Barry Kemp, Paul T. Nicholson, Pamela Rose, Fieldwork, 1999-2000: Sais, Memphis, Tell El-Amarna, Tell El-Amarna Glass Project, Qasr Ibrim, The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, Vol. 86 (2000), pp. 1-21
The city of el-Amarna as a source for the study of urban society in ancient Egypt
King Akhenaten's short‐lived capital of el‐Amarna still seems to offer the least fragmentary example of a city layout from New Kingdom Egypt. Although often regarded as of unusual spaciousness, taking advantage of the ready availability of building land on a desert site, there are strong grounds for arguing that, at the least, its range of housing reflects a mature, developed urbanism that must have been transplanted from a parent site, and even …
Were Cities Built as Images
Many ancient city sites display a remarkable regularity in their plan which has led to considerable debate on the symbolism and intentionality which may lie behind these arrangements. Grid plan cities of the Greek and Roman world were discussed by Haverfield almost a century ago, but it was above all the cities of South and East Asia analyzed by Wheatley in his influential Pivot of the Four Quarters (1971) which has given new emphasis to the pote…
Life, death and beyond in Akhenaten's Egypt: Excavating the South Tombs Cemetery at Amarna
The authors report a summary of the results of six seasons of excavation at one of the cemeteries of Tell el-Amarna, the celebrated city of the 'monotheistic' revolutionary, Akhenaten. The osteology shows a workforce enduring stress and injuries to bone and muscle. The burial rites indicate low investment and personal interpretations as to spiritual meaning. In this exploration of a slice of a whole Egyptian urban society, the contrast between th…
Underneath Ranefer's floors – urban environments on the desert edge
The Egyptian 1st Dynasty Royal Cemetery
Around 3100 B.C. the kingship of Egypt, a country probably united already for over a century, passed into the hands of a family which tradition states originated from the Thinite nome in Upper Egypt. At about the same time the keeping of written records was begun and these first historic kings have come to form what we know as the 1st Dynasty. This was clearly a crucial and momentous period for under their rule Egyptian civilization began to take…
An ancient Nile harbour University Museum excavations at the ‘Birket Habu’
The early development of towns in Egypt
It may seem surprising that, after three-quarters of a century of excavation in Egypt, anyone should still feel it necessary to write an article claiming that ancient Egypt has, after all, left behind stratified town sites of the sort that have been the main source of work for the archaeoIogist in other countries ; and that, furthermore, the life which they represent can be rationally comprehended
How Religious were the Ancient Egyptians
Ancient Egyptian culture was permeated by statements, symbolic and direct, which defined a world of deities and divine power. They amounted to a form of knowledge that was largely divorced from general personal behaviour and which afforded little recognition of individual experience. Furthermore, although practical provision for survival after death was important, life seems not to have offered a quest for enlightenment through enhanced knowledge…
Egyptian radiocarbon dating: A reply to James Mellaart
Mellaart is not the first, even in recent times, to query the Egyptian astronomical data, and in particular the reliability of the source for the Sothic date in Senusret 111’s reign which seems to offer the earliest independently fixed date in the Near East. In 1974, R. D. Long published an attack in the journal Orientalia, xLrIr, 261-74. This provoked a lengthy and careful response from the scholar whose name is most closely associated with the …
Mathematics and computers in archaeology
Egypt's Invisible Walls
City walls invite functionalist explanations. It is at first sight easy to deduce why they were built. Where contemporary written and pictorial evidence survives, however, the subject begins to take on a cognitive dimension. Did people at the time really perceive them as we are apt to imagine? The subject has been extensively discussed in the context of medieval Europe where contemporary pictures and contemporary accounts can be set against the a…
The Colossi from the Early Shrine at Coptos in Egypt
For more than a hundred years the three colossal limestone figures from Coptos have challenged anyone wishing to write on the development of culture and society in early Egypt. Beginning from a fuller documentation of the three, a reconstruction of their original context is proposed, namely, an array of standing stones, a type of sacred structure of which a growing number of examples are known in the region. A study of the signs carved on their s…
Large Middle Kingdom Granary Buildings: (And the Archaeology of Administration)
L'etude des greniers doit reveler normalement l'intention administrative qui a cause leur construction. Le modele de grenier de Meketre est un bon point de depart pour l'identification de ce type de bâtiment. L'A. etudie ensuite ce qui peut etre considere comme des greniers a Kahun et dans les forts de la 2 cataracte a Kumma, Shalfak, Uronarti, Mirgissa et Askut. Evaluation des capacites et des rations. En annexe, les palais de campagne a Kor et …
The First Millennium bc: Temple Enclosure or Urban Citadel
The first millennium bc brought warfare to the interior of Egypt on a significant scale. We have two vivid records, one written and the other pictorial. The former is a first-person narrative of the Napatan (Sudanese) king Piankhy who, having gained control of the south of Egypt, embarked in 730 bc on a methodical subjugation of the rest of the country, then under the rule of several local families. During the seemingly irresistible northward pro…
Final Remarks: Protecting Assets
How people have classified things is one of the defining aspects of cognitive archaeology. Here we have been looking at the most obvious physical manifestations of protection, namely large enclosure walls
Proportionality in Mind and Space in Ancient Egypt
Over the last twenty years experimental psychology has revived interest in the Golden Section, showing it to have some influence not only in visual perception but also in a certain kind of value judgement. The findings are here tested on ancient Egyptian sources, both archaeological and textual. They lead to a discussion of how Egyptian architects designed their buildings, and also to a consideration of the cognitive processes involved in modern …
The Harim-Palace at Medinet el-Ghurab
An Incised Sherd from Kahun, Egypt
Excavations at Hierakonpolis Fort, 1905: A Preliminary Note
Excavations at Hierakonpolis Fort, 1905: A Preliminary Note
Thebes of the Pharaohs, Pattern for Every City
Abydos and the Royal Tombs of the First Dynasty
Abydos and the Royal Tombs of the First Dynasty
The Egyptian 1st Dynasty Royal Cemetery
Around 3100 B.C. the kingship of Egypt, a country probably united already for over a century, passed into the hands of a family which tradition states originated from the Thinite nome in Upper Egypt. At about the same time the keeping of written records was begun and these first historic kings have come to form what we know as the 1st Dynasty. This was clearly a crucial and momentous period for under their rule Egyptian civilization began to take…
Merimda and the Theory of House Burial in Prehistoric Egypt
Petrie's Naqada Excavation, a Supplement
Mirgissa I
Photographs of the Decorated Tomb at Hierakonpolis
Photographs of the Decorated Tomb at Hierakonpolis
An ancient Nile harbour University Museum excavations at the ‘Birket Habu’
An Ancient Nile Harbour
The Window of Appearance at El-Amarna, And the Basic Structure of this City
The Window of Appearance at El-Amarna, and the Basic Structure of This City
Der konigliche Harim im alten Agypten und seine Verwaltung
The Rock Drawings
Mathematics and computers in archaeology
A Note on Stratigraphy at Memphis
In volume XI of this journal Christine Lilyquist published a short account of the ''Middle King dom (or more likely, as she herself argues, First Intermediate Period) cemetery discovered accidentally at Memphis in 1954 and excavated by the Department of Antiquities.1 In March 1975 I paid a brief visit to the site in the company of Abdulla Sayed Mahmoud of the Department of Antiquities, who is preparing a more detailed account of this work. The ob…
A Building of Amenophis III at Kôm El-'Abd
Kom el-Abd: rive gauche du Nil, 3,5km au S.-O. du palais d'AmenophisIII a Malkata. Site fouille en 1936-37, puis en 1969 et 1973. Cette construction de la XVIIIdynastie comporte deux parties: a) une plate-forme rectangulaire (4540m) a pavage de briques (a l'estampille d'AmenophisIII)| elle servait peut-etre a des exercices (ou des courses?) de char| b) des maisons
A Building of Amenophis III at Kom el-'Abd
An Incised Sherd from Kahun, Egypt
The city of el-Amarna as a source for the study of urban society in ancient Egypt
King Akhenaten's short‐lived capital of el‐Amarna still seems to offer the least fragmentary example of a city layout from New Kingdom Egypt. Although often regarded as of unusual spaciousness, taking advantage of the ready availability of building land on a desert site, there are strong grounds for arguing that, at the least, its range of housing reflects a mature, developed urbanism that must have been transplanted from a parent site, and even …
The early development of towns in Egypt
It may seem surprising that, after three-quarters of a century of excavation in Egypt, anyone should still feel it necessary to write an article claiming that ancient Egypt has, after all, left behind stratified town sites of the sort that have been the main source of work for the archaeoIogist in other countries ; and that, furthermore, the life which they represent can be rationally comprehended
Preliminary Report on the El-‘Amarna Survey, 1977
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