Robert Morkot
I read Ancient History at University College London (1977-1980) where I specialised in Egyptology. There I benefitted from the teaching of Margaret Drower and Amelie Kuhrt in Near Eastern History; Harry Smith in Egyptology; Fergus Millar, Tim Cornell and John North in Greek, Hellenistic and Roman History. Following my degree I worked in the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology at UCL, firstly registering material, then as Archivist working on the notebooks of Flinders Petrie.
My doctoral dissertation (London, UCL from 1983) examined the complex relationship between Kush (northern Sudan) and Egypt between 1500 and 700 BCE, and the effects of Egyptian ‘colonial’ rule on the formation of an indigenous state. As part of my studies I spent a year (1986-87) in East Germany, on a British Council Exchange Scholarship at the Humboldt University, Berlin. There I studied Meroitic with the leading authority, Fritz Hintze, and Nubian archaeology with Steffen Wenig.
From 1987-1991 I was G.A. Wainwright Fellow in Near Eastern Archaeology attached to the Oriental Institute, University of Oxford. During this time I was working on material excavated by F.Ll. Griffith and Oxford University at sites in the northern Sudan during the 1920s and 1930s, now scattered in Museums around Britain and Europe.
In 1991, along with colleagues from the Institute of Archaeology in London, I.J. Thorpe, N. Kokkinos and J.A. Frankish, and led by Peter James, I contributed to Centuries of Darkness. (London: Jonathan Cape). This, rather dry, reassessment of the chronology of the Old World from the Bronze to Iron Ages was greeted with horror by many archaeologists (and derision by some). For such a dull subject, it became something of a succès de scandale , even being lampooned in The Times. Despite the hostility of many Egyptologists, the solution suggested to the archaeological problems highlighted (revising the chronology of Egypt), has gradually moved in the authors’ favour: the debate continues.
I was a member of the Committee (2004-2009) and Chair (2009-2011) of ASTENE (the Association for the Study of Travel in Egypt and the Near East http://www.astene.org.uk/ ). ASTENE has a broad membership of archaeologists, historians, Arabists and those engaged in literary studies, all with an interest in travel, travel writing, and the Near East.
Since 2013 I have been one of the Vice-Presidents of the Friends of the Petrie Museum, University College London (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/FriendsofPetrie/). The Friends is one of the largest Egyptology groups in the UK and works to preserve the most important teaching collection of artefacts from Egypt, which was formed by Sir Flinders Petrie, the first Professor of Egyptian Archaeology at UCL (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/museums/petrie/).
I have served on the Council (2006-2010), and was Chair of the Council, of the Society for Libyan Studies (SLS http://www.societyforlibyanstudies.org/) from 2011 to 2016.
I also served for many years on the main Committee (1991-1994, 2000-2003, 2004-2007), Sub-Committees (2002-2010) and Board of Trustees (2008-2009) of the Egypt Exploration Society (http://www.ees.ac.uk/).
I am currently a Trustee of Breaking Ground Heritage (http://breakinggroundheritage.org/)
I am a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and also a member of the Sudan Archaeological Research Society (SARS), the British Institute for the Study of Iraq (BISI, formerly British School of Archaeology in Iraq), the Roman Society, and the British School at Rome.
Address: Exeter, Devon, United Kingdom
My doctoral dissertation (London, UCL from 1983) examined the complex relationship between Kush (northern Sudan) and Egypt between 1500 and 700 BCE, and the effects of Egyptian ‘colonial’ rule on the formation of an indigenous state. As part of my studies I spent a year (1986-87) in East Germany, on a British Council Exchange Scholarship at the Humboldt University, Berlin. There I studied Meroitic with the leading authority, Fritz Hintze, and Nubian archaeology with Steffen Wenig.
From 1987-1991 I was G.A. Wainwright Fellow in Near Eastern Archaeology attached to the Oriental Institute, University of Oxford. During this time I was working on material excavated by F.Ll. Griffith and Oxford University at sites in the northern Sudan during the 1920s and 1930s, now scattered in Museums around Britain and Europe.
In 1991, along with colleagues from the Institute of Archaeology in London, I.J. Thorpe, N. Kokkinos and J.A. Frankish, and led by Peter James, I contributed to Centuries of Darkness. (London: Jonathan Cape). This, rather dry, reassessment of the chronology of the Old World from the Bronze to Iron Ages was greeted with horror by many archaeologists (and derision by some). For such a dull subject, it became something of a succès de scandale , even being lampooned in The Times. Despite the hostility of many Egyptologists, the solution suggested to the archaeological problems highlighted (revising the chronology of Egypt), has gradually moved in the authors’ favour: the debate continues.
I was a member of the Committee (2004-2009) and Chair (2009-2011) of ASTENE (the Association for the Study of Travel in Egypt and the Near East http://www.astene.org.uk/ ). ASTENE has a broad membership of archaeologists, historians, Arabists and those engaged in literary studies, all with an interest in travel, travel writing, and the Near East.
Since 2013 I have been one of the Vice-Presidents of the Friends of the Petrie Museum, University College London (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/FriendsofPetrie/). The Friends is one of the largest Egyptology groups in the UK and works to preserve the most important teaching collection of artefacts from Egypt, which was formed by Sir Flinders Petrie, the first Professor of Egyptian Archaeology at UCL (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/museums/petrie/).
I have served on the Council (2006-2010), and was Chair of the Council, of the Society for Libyan Studies (SLS http://www.societyforlibyanstudies.org/) from 2011 to 2016.
I also served for many years on the main Committee (1991-1994, 2000-2003, 2004-2007), Sub-Committees (2002-2010) and Board of Trustees (2008-2009) of the Egypt Exploration Society (http://www.ees.ac.uk/).
I am currently a Trustee of Breaking Ground Heritage (http://breakinggroundheritage.org/)
I am a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and also a member of the Sudan Archaeological Research Society (SARS), the British Institute for the Study of Iraq (BISI, formerly British School of Archaeology in Iraq), the Roman Society, and the British School at Rome.
Address: Exeter, Devon, United Kingdom
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Papers by Robert Morkot
The Bibliography was for the entire volume, hence its length. NB the article cited as Morkot forthcoming (Post-pharaonic Nubia...) never forthcame, but is effectively replaced by the chapter in James et al, Centuries of Darkness
Saite Egypt has been widely debated, and its complex sources and developments are now being more closely charted. Three details—the shape of the cartouche base, ear tabs, and the “reeded” lines on the red crown—are presented here as further features for discussion which might enable further understanding of models, sources, and chronological and geographical use of elements.
These are second proofs, with minor differences to the published version.
The Bibliography was for the entire volume, hence its length. NB the article cited as Morkot forthcoming (Post-pharaonic Nubia...) never forthcame, but is effectively replaced by the chapter in James et al, Centuries of Darkness
Saite Egypt has been widely debated, and its complex sources and developments are now being more closely charted. Three details—the shape of the cartouche base, ear tabs, and the “reeded” lines on the red crown—are presented here as further features for discussion which might enable further understanding of models, sources, and chronological and geographical use of elements.
These are second proofs, with minor differences to the published version.