Barry Kemp (Egyptologist)

English archaeologist and Egyptologist (1940–2024) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Barry John Kemp, CBE, FBA (14 May 1940 – 15 May 2024) was an English archaeologist and Egyptologist. He was Professor of Egyptology at the University of Cambridge and directed excavations at Amarna in Egypt. His book Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilisation is a core text of Egyptology and many Ancient History courses.[1]

Born(1940-05-14)14 May 1940
Birmingham, England
Died15 May 2024(2024-05-15) (aged 84)
SpouseMiriam Bertram
ChildrenNicola, Victoria, and Frances
Quick facts CBE FBA, Born ...
Barry Kemp
CBE FBA
Born(1940-05-14)14 May 1940
Birmingham, England
Died15 May 2024(2024-05-15) (aged 84)
SpouseMiriam Bertram
ChildrenNicola, Victoria, and Frances
Parent(s)Ernest Kemp
Norah Lawless
Academic background
Alma materUniversity of Liverpool (BA)
Academic work
DisciplineEgyptologist
Sub-discipline
Institutions
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Life and education

Kemp was born to Ernest and Norah (nee Lawless) Kemp on 14 May 1940 in Birmingham.[2][3][4]Kemp was married three different times and divorced twice. He was survived by his third wife Miriam Bertram.[5] His father Ernest, was a traveling salesmen who also served his time in the Egyptian military in  World War II.[6] This is what sparked Kemp's curiosity with the Egyptian world.[6]He studied Egyptology at the University of Liverpool, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1962.[3][7] Kemp dedicated his life to Egyptology and the advancement of excavations in Amarna.[4] Kemp was actively always on his sites, carrying out excavations and publications up till his death in 2024.[8] He died on 15 May 2024, in Cambridge, England, a day after his 84th birthday.[9][10]

Academic career

In 1962, Kemp joined the University of Cambridge as an assistant lecturer.[11] He was promoted to lecturer in 1969, Reader in Egyptology in 1990, and made Professor of Egyptology in 2005.[3][12] He was also a Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge from 1990 to 2007.[3][13] He retired from full-time academia in 2007, and was made professor emeritus.[3] Beginning in 2008, he was a senior fellow of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research at Cambridge.[3][14] Kemp was always inspiring his students with new ideas and constant interest in the use of new methods.[8]

Amarna Project

In 1977, Kemp founded the Amarna Trust which seeks to preserve the ancient city of Amarna, bringing awareness to Amarna and the surrounding regions.[15] From 1977 until 2008, he was the director of excavation and archaeological survey at Amarna for the Egypt Exploration Society.[16] He continued his research of the Amarna Period of ancient Egypt as director of the Amarna Project and secretary of the Amarna Trust.[17] He also contributed to many highly regarded and widely used Egyptology texts, including Civilisations of the Ancient Near East, edited by Jack Sasson. He was a co-author of Bruce Trigger's Ancient Egypt: A Social History, which incorporates the work of many leading Egyptologists and addresses recent trends in the subject.[18] Kemp stated he was interested in developing a holistic picture of Ancient Egyptian society rather than focussing on the elite culture that dominates the archaeological record: "This holistic approach involves explaining the present appearance of the site in terms of all the agencies at work..."[19] Kemp's contributions to Egyptology reinvented it as a social science.[4] Kemp's work in the excavation at the site of Amarna gave new information about the religion, and diets of ancient Egyptian citizens.[4] Kemp challenged the works prior to him with the idea that Egyptians weren't entirely devout.[4] Kemp's contributions to the excavation at the site of Amarna was one of his biggest accomplishments, he shed light on how smaller Egyptian civilizations functioned.[4]Towards the latter half of his life Kemp shifted his focus to the site of the Great Aten Temple in a neighboring village.[5]

Honors

Kemp was elected Fellow of the British Academy (FBA) in 1992.[11] He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2011 New Year Honours for services to archaeology, education and international relations in Egypt.[20] Kemp was inspirational and a dedicated professor always adding his new ideas about Egyptian civilizations.[8]

Publications

    • Kemp, Barry, 1977. A Building of Amenophis III at Kôm el-'Abd The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, Vol. 63. (1977), pp.71-82 PDF
    • Barry Kemp (1977). The city of el-Amarna as a source for the study of urban society in ancient Egypt in World Archaeology 9, 123–39.
    • Kemp, Barry J. 1977. The City of El-Amarna as a Source for the Study of Urban Society in Ancient Egypt World Archaeology, Vol. 9, No. 2, Architecture and Archaeology (Oct., 1977), pp. 123-139 PDF
    • Barry Kemp (1981). The character of the South Suburb at Tell el-'Amarna. Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft zu Berlin 113, 81–97.
    • Barry Kemp (1983). Tell el-'Amarna. In H.S. Smith and R.M. Hall, ed., Ancient Centres of Egyptian Civilization, pp. 57–72. London: Egyptian Education Bureau.
    • Barry Kemp (1986). Tell el-Amarna, 4000 word entry in the Lexikon der Ägyptologie, ed. W. Helck and W. Westendorf, Band VI. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 309–19.
    • Barry Kemp (1989). Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilisation (1st ed.).
    • Barry Kemp (1992). Amarna from the air. Egyptian Archaeology 2, 15–17.
    • Barry Kemp, Soil and brick architecture in Ancient Egypt, pp.78-103
    • Barry Kemp, "Meretaten's Bathroom," The Ostracon 7.3 (Fall 1996): pp.1-5 PDF
    • Barry Kemp (1998). More of Amarna's city plan. Egyptian Archaeology 13, 17–18.
    • Barry Kemp (2000). Bricks and metaphor. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 10, 335–46. A comparative essay on the theme 'Were cities built as images?'.
    • Barry Kemp (2005). 100 Hieroglyphs: Think Like an Egyptian. Granta Books. ISBN 1-86207-658-8.
    • Barry Kemp (2005). Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilisation (2nd ed.). Routledge. ISBN 0-415-23550-2.
    • Barry Kemp (2007). The Egyptian Book of the Dead. Granta Books. ISBN 978-1-86207-913-7.
    • Barry Kemp (2012). The City of Akhenaten and Nefertiti: Amarna and Its People. Thames & Hudson. ISBN 978-0-500-29120-7.
    • Kemp, Barry & Zink, Albert, 2012 “Life in Ancient Egypt: Akhenaten, the Amarna Period, and Tutankhamun.” In: “Sickness, Hunger, War, and Religion: Multidisciplinary Perspectives,” edited by Michaela Harbeck, Kristin von Heyking, and Heiner Schwarzberg, RCC Perspectives 2012, no. 3, pp.9–23. PDF
    • Barry Kemp (2015). Ancient Egypt: All that matters. Quercus. ISBN 978-1-44418620-8.
    • Barry Kemp, The Royal Tombs of Amarna, January 2016 issue of the Akhetaten Sun, the newsletter of the Amarna Research Foundation of Denver, Colorado. 12 pages PDF
    • Barry Kemp (2018). Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilisation (3rd ed.). Routledge. ISBN 9781351166485.

Amarna Reports Webpage & Amarna Project Horizons Webpage

Interview

References

External links

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