Lørdagsseminar om Tuthmosiderne
Mødedato: Lørdag d. 4. oktober 2025 kl. 11-16
Kl. 11.00 – The World of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III
Part 1: Regency and Coregency: the joint rule of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III
Aidan Dodson,
At the death of Thutmose II, his young son Thutmose III became king. As too young to rule, his stepmother-aunt, the dowager queen Hatshepsut, became regent. Although this role had previously been exercised by earlier dowagers, Hatshepsut’s position seems from the outset to have been more prominent than in most earlier cases, the queen appearing independently in reliefs, and in conjunction with her daughter, Neferure. Then, after seven years, she transitioned to being a fully-fledged pharaoh, as coregent with Thutmose III. As such, Hatshepsut employed a range of iconographies, ranging from being shown as a woman with a royal headdress, through to representations indistinguishable from a man, save the appearance of feminine endings in label-texts. She deployed traditional modes of legitimation, including a divine-birth legend, once thought to have originated with her, but now known to go back at least to the Twelfth Dynasty. She continued to employ many of the existing officialdom of the kingdom, but the High Steward Senenmut was rapidly elevated to exceptional prominence. This has led to suggestions that he might have been Hatshepsut’s life-partner, perhaps reinforced by the fact that Senenmut and Hatshepsut had all-but-identical sarcophagi: a ‘his-and-hers’ pair? The coregency saw not only a trading expedition to Punt on the Red Sea, but also military activity in Nubia, in which Hatshepsut personally participated. Extensive building work was carried out throughout Egypt, but especially at Karnak where much of the present core of the complex was constructed under Hatshepsut. The female king disappears from the record in Year 21, when she presumably died, and was buried in tomb KV20 of the Kings, leaving Thutmose III as once again sole pharaoh.
Kl. 11.45 Kort pause
Kl. 12.00
Part 2: The Conqueror: the sole rule of Thutmose III
Aidan Dodson,
As sole ruler, Thutmose III embarked immediately on an annual cycle of military campaigns into Syria-Palestine, during which he extended Egyptian power to its greatest extent in pharaonic times, even crossing the Euphrates. These campaigns were recorded in extensive ‘Annals’ texts at Karnak, and include a detailed account of the king’s attack on the strategic city of Megiddo in Palestine. The booty and taxation resulting from these activities was used to complete and extend Hatshepsut’s building programme at Karnak, including the 7th Pylon, obelisks, and the great Festival Hall (ꜣḫ-mnw). The latter included a room with remarkable set of depictions of flora and fauna brought back from campaign. Building work was also carried out throughout Egypt and Nubia, a stela of the king being the earliest monument at Gebel Barkal in the far south. A remarkable structure datable to the time of Thutmose III is a palace at Tell el-Daba (Avaris), decorated with Minoan (Cretan) paintings, suggesting some intimate link with the Aegean. Towards the end of his reign, the memory of Hatshepsut was attacked, with her images and names destroyed, and in some cases replaced by those of Thutmose I and II. The reason for this remains much debated, as does why it only occurred two decades after her death. One suggestion has been that it was incited by the young crown prince Amenhotep, one of a number of children born to Thutmose III, who had at least three wives. It has been suggested that Amenhotep II served as his coregent during his last months, but this now seems unlikely. In any case, Thutmose III died in his Year 54, and was buried in tomb KV34 in the Valley of the Kings.
Kl. 12.45 Frokostpause (tag selv mad med)
Kl. 13.30
The Tomb of Thutmosis II and other early 18th Dynasty tombs in the Western part of the Theban Necropolis
Andreas Dorn, Professor of Egyptology, Uppsala University
Since 2014, the New Kingdom Research Foundation has been conducting a comprehensive archaeological investigation of the western part of the Theban Necropolis. This area extends from the Valley of the Queens approximately 8 km westward and up to 4 km northward. It has received little scholarly attention since its only systematic survey by Howard Carter in 1917, the documentation of graffiti by J. Černý, A. Shimy, and A. Sadek in the 1970s and 80s, and the publication of the tomb of the “three foreign wives of Thutmosis III” by C. Lilyquist in 2003. As part of the archaeological and epigraphic project, which has now lasted over ten years, all structures in the area, most of which have only been partially excavated, from all eras from the Paleolithic period through prehistory to the present day, with a focus on the New Kingdom, the Late Period, and Late Antiquity, with intensive use during the Coptic period, were excavated and documented. Numerous spectacular finds were made during this work. These include what is probably the deepest Theban shaft tomb, foundation deposits beneath Hatshepsut’s cliff tomb, Coptic (monastic) settlements, over 40 tombs from the time of Hatshepsut/Thutmosis III, some of which have owners which are known from other historically sources, numerous new discoveries of graffiti, and, in particular, the tomb of King Thutmosis II, which will be the focus of the lecture.
Kl. 14.15 Kaffepause
Kl. 14.45
Hatshepsut’s mortuary architecture between innovation and tradition
Andreas Dorn, Professor of Egyptology, Uppsala University
With the construction of rock tombs, the kings of the New Kingdom replaced the previous concept of royal tombs, which consisted of the spatially closely related architectural elements of valley temple, causeway, pyramid temple, and pyramid with royal tomb. Due to this change in concept, the royal rock cut tombs were no longer visible from a distance, but were built in unknown, hidden locations. As a result, the royal tomb and the site of the funerary cult no longer formed an architectural unit. This had various effects, including on the construction of private tombs for high officials, which had previously been built in close proximity to the royal tomb, and on the architecture and textual program in the royal tomb and in the royal mortuary temples/houses of millions of years. To illustrate these changes, the tomb (KV 20) and the house of millions of years of Queen Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari are presented and analysed. It is shown that various factors, such as the relationship between king and god, played a role, and that the abandonment of the pyramid as a royal burial form and the separation of tomb and funerary cult place did not occur abruptly, but rather that there were various precursors to this.
Re-reading Sinuhe: Ancient poetry and modern commentary
Mødedato: Søndag d. 14. september 2025, kl. 14.00
Lokale 15A.1.11
ved Richard Parkinson, Professor of Egyptology, Fellow of The Queen’s College, University of Oxford
Although The Life of Sinuhe is universally acknowledged as the supreme masterpiece of Ancient Egyptian literature, there has been no full commentary on the poem for over a century. The lecture will discuss a recent attempt to provide a new analysis, connecting issues of palaeography, philology, poetry and performance together in a single volume to help anyone wanting to read the Middle Kingdom versions(s) of the poem.
The nature of the poem has often been misunderstood, as have Sinuhe’s character and experiences, and the lecture will try to demonstrate how a more experiential and empathetic approach to reading can clarify what actually happens in the text and enable a fuller engagement with its extraordinary poetry.
Food Crops and Subsistence Strategies of Medieval and Post-Medieval Nubia
Mødedato: Onsdag d. 5. November 2025, kl. 18.00
Lokale: KUA 12.0.37
v. Mohammed Nasreldein, PhD, Department of Archaeology, University of Gezira, Sudan
This lecture explores how food practices and agricultural systems in Nubia evolved during a time of major political and social transformation. Focusing on archaeobotanical evidence from Old Dongola (14th–18th centuries CE), it reveals how communities navigated change through their cultivation and use of both cultivated and wild plants. The talk highlights recent findings and discusses how archaeobotany sheds light on resilience, adaptation, and daily life in medieval and post-medieval Nubia.
Short biography
Mohammed Nasreldein is a Sudanese archaeobotanist, affiliated as a lecturer at the Department of Archaeology, University of Gezira in Sudan. Mohammed holds a PhD in Archaeological Sciences from the University of Tübingen, Germany. His research focuses on ancient Nubian subsistence strategies and agricultural production during medieval and post-medieval periods. Mohammed worked as a team member at the University of Warsaw ERC-UMMA project at Old Dongola, where he worked as an archaeobotanist. He has joined several expeditions as an archaeologist across Sudan since 2015.
Generalforsamling og The Meketre models
Mødedato: Tirsdag d. 28/1 2025 kl. 18.00 – Lokale: 23.0.49
Først generalforsamling fulgt af foredrag ca. kl. 19.
A new view on the Meketre models v. Adela Oppenheim, Curator, Department of Egyptian Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The models from the tomb of Meketre in Thebes are among the most beloved items of the Egyptian collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
The serdab of Meketre’s tomb as found
Meketre lived in the early Middle Kingdom during the reign of Mentuhotep Nehepetre and to the beginning of Amenemhat I. Herbert Winlock, head of the excavations for Metropolitan Museum and his team, discovered the tomb in 1920. It was situated high up on the cliff close to the Deir el Bahri Temple of Mentuhotep.
The burial chamber had been robbed in ancient times, and tomb models are normally found in the burial chamber on the coffin and next to it. In Meketre’s tomb they were luckily kept in a so-called serdab that had not been touched. Following the regulations of the time the finds were divided between the Metropolitan Museum and Egypt where they are now displayed in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and the National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation.
Winlock published the models as ’Models of daily life in ancient Egypt’ and this is how they have generally been understood. Adela Oppenheim presents an alternative interpretation in connection with the burial and the burial rituals.
Mapping the Looting and Trafficking of Egypt’s Cultural Heritage
Mødedato: Torsdag d. 13. marts 2025, kl. 19 – Lokale 23.0.49
Mapping the Looting and Trafficking of Egypt’s Cultural Heritage, v. Marcel Marée, British Museum
Marcel Marée is Assistant Keeper at the Department of Egypt & Sudan in the British Museum. He is in charge of the Museum’s Egyptian Sculpture Gallery and oversaw its recent renewal with updated interpretation. He has done epigraphic fieldwork at Elkab, Edfu and Aswan. He specialises in provenance research, with a particular focus on tracing artefacts to specific workshops, sculptors and painters.
In 2018, he initiated a project called Circulating Artefacts – CircArt in short. The project is designed to monitor, record and analyse the trade in cultural artefacts, to clarify provenance, and to detect irregularities. This has enabled the identification and recovery of thousands of illegally sourced antiquities in the trade. CircArt twice received generous grants from the Cultural Protection Fund, a scheme run by the Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS). The project is currently being prepared for adoption on a higher institutional level, under a new name. Marcel is a founding member of the Heritage Crime Task Force, created in 2022. It is being developed in partnership with the Organization for Security & Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). At venues across
Europe, the Task Force offers training to law enforcement and heritage professionals engaged in the fight against heritage crime. The Task Force also promotes and enables collaboration between OSCE member and partner states in tackling live criminal cases.
Marcel’s lecture looks more closely at how to map the looting and trafficking of Egypt’s cultural heritage.
Commemorating Amenhotep III’s sed-festivals
Amenhotep III in sed-festival attire, reused block in the Khonsu temple at Karnak.
(Photo A. Chéné, CFEETK)
Mødedato: Torsdag d. 10. april 2025, kl. 18 – Lokale 22.0.11
Commemorating Amenhotep III’s sed-festivals in Thebes and Soleb, v. Susanne Bickel, professor of Egyptology, University of Basel, Switzerland
In his thirtieth year of reign, and again in his year 33 and 37, pharaoh Amenhotep III from the 18th dynasty had a lavish jubilee festival organized. The celebrations lasted over several weeks and implied numerous high officials and priests. It was also a great economic endeavour with temples and palaces being built for the purpose and large quantities of food and wine prepared for the festivities.
The actual sequence of rituals and events can only be very partially reconstructed through the available documentation. The festivals were, however, also commemorated for eternity in temple reliefs that were taken over and adapted from Old Kingdom models. Two examples of this extended sed-festival relief cycle are preserved, albeit incompletely, one in Thebes and one in the Nubian temple of Soleb.
The Theban relief cycle is preserved partly within the remains of Amenhotep III’s funerary cult temple on the West Bank – presumably its original location – and partly in the form of reused blocs in the 21st Dynasty Khonsu temple at Karnak. Parts of the Nubian example at Soleb are still standing and therefore allow a better insight into the sequence of representations and the visual impression this remarkable composition must have made on people entering the temple.
The lecture will present some of this material, analyse the process of reactivating a very old model of scenes, and try to grasp some of the messages and impressions the sed-festival relief cycle would have conveyed upon contemporaneous viewers.
Tiye and Nefertiti – Egyptian queens at a time of change
Lørdag d. 3. maj, kl. 14 – ekstra foredrag i København. Lokale ændret til 23.0.49 fra 22.0.11.
Tiye and Nefertiti – Egyptian queens at a time of change, v. Dr. Christian Bayer, Kurator Ägypten und Antike, Roemer- und Pelizaeus-Museum Hildesheim
Queen Tiye
Nefertiti
During the middle of the second millennium BCE, significant developments occurred in Egyptian religion, society, and foreign policy. The rule of King Amenhotep III and his son Amenhotep IV, also known as Akhenaten, was a pivotal era in this period. Noteworthy is the fact that both kings were married to influential women: Queen Tiye and Nefertiti.
This lecture will examine the art and iconography associated with these royal women and its development over time. The study will focus on the evolution of the royal headdresses and crowns worn by the two queens, which served as a symbol of their shifting roles within the royal hierarchy and their representation of the empire. A particular focus of this examination will be the bust of Nefertiti, which is currently housed in Berlin. While the bust is widely regarded as a significant exemplar of ancient Egyptian sculpture, its role and function as a portrait remain subjects of ongoing debate.
The lecture will evaluate whether Nefertiti’s bust is an idealised depiction or a true likeness of the queen, utilising archaeological evidence and new three-dimensional scanning technologies to propose a resolution to this long-standing question.
Pyramider og soltempler i Gamle Rige – Lørdagsseminar
Mødedato: Lørdag d. 24. maj 2025 kl. 11.00-16.00
Lokale: ændret til 23.0.49 fra 22.0.11
Kl. 11.00 – Kheopspyramiden helt fra bunden – nyt laserblik på ældgamle spørgsmål
v. Søren Sindbæk, professor i arkæologi, Aarhus Universitet
Et hold af danske arkæologer har i to år arbejdet sammen med ægyptiske og amerikanske kollegaer om at lave en ny opmåling af områderne omkring Kheopspyramiden i Giza. Her vrimler undergrunden med spor, der fortæller om det enestående byggearbejde. Som deltagere i forskningsorganisationen Ancient Egypt Research Associates’ projekt The Giza Plateau Mapping Project har Søren Sindbæk og hans team fra Aarhus Universitet og Museum Vest i Ribe bidraget med deres ekspertise i 3D-laserscanning for at afsløre, hvordan pyramidebyggerne arbejdede. I projektet er nogle områder for første gang blevet renset ned til klippeoverfladen, hvor nye spor er dukket op. Resultatet er den første moderne opmåling af pyramideområdet – færdiggjort 100 år efter den sidste komplette opmåling i 1925. Her skal vi høre om ekspeditionens oplevelser, og løfte sløret for nogle af deres resultater.
Kl. 12.15 – Frokostpause (tag selv mad med)
Kl. 13.00 – Pyramideteksterne: Verdens ældste længere religiøse tekster
v. Jørgen Podemann Sørensen, lektor emeritus, Københavns Universitet
I året 2323 f.v.t. begraves den ægyptiske kong Unas i sin pyramide i Sakkara. Som noget nyt er pyramidens indre kamre beskrevet med hieroglyftekster fra loft til gulv. Nogle af dem nævner ofre og salver, som den døde konge skulle have, men andre har et mytologisk eller kosmologisk indhold, som kongen på en eller anden måde inddrages i. Det er ofte dunkle tekster, og mange af dem fik et langt liv; de blev gengivet i sarkofager, på gravvægge og som dødebogskapitler på papyrus helt op til den romerske kejsertid. Derfor er det selvfølgelig religions- og kulturhistorisk vigtigt at forstå selve den oprindelige (4347 år gamle) ide i at forsyne kong Unas og hans efterfølgere med pyramidetekster. Og det er netop, hvad vi skal forsøge lørdag 24. maj 2024.
Kl. 14.15-14.45 – Pause
Kl. 14.45-16.00 – The Fifth Dynasty Sun Temples. A pyramid alter ego? v. Massimiliano Nuzzolo, Senior Lecturer in Egyptology at the University of Turin, Italy, Director of the Italian Archaeological Mission at the Sun Temple of Niuserra at Abu Ghurab and the multidisciplinary research project named “Sun Temples Project”
The Fifth Dynasty sun temples represent a unique and still largely unexplored category of monuments of ancient Egypt. Despite the fact of being the very first temples dedicated to the cult of the sun god Ra in pharaonic civilization, our knowledge of these monuments is still blurred and full of dark spots. This is clear when we consider that out of the six temples known from historical sources only two have been uncovered so far. By means of a comprehensive exploration of the temples, and the comparison with the contemporary pyramids, this lecture will guide us through the world of the Fifth Dynasty Kings of Egypt. Special focus of this lecture will be on the sun temple of Niuserra at Abu Ghurab, where an archaeological exploration led by the present author has been working over the last 10 years. It will give new insights into the architecture, decoration and symbolical meaning of the temples.
The secrets under the isched tree
Mødedato: Onsdag d. 11. September 2024 kl. 19
Lokale: KUA – 23.0.49
The secrets under the isched tree, v. Dr. Andreas Effland, M.A. Seminar für Ägyptologie und Koptologie, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
During the excavations carried out by French and British missions in Umm el-Qaab at Abydos towards the end of the19th and the beginning of the 20th century and again in the course of the recent excavations by the German Archaeological Institute, numerous fragments of very specific, inscribed pottery sherds were found. They are belonging to a small corpus of characteristic heart-shaped vessels.
These vessels – used during regenerative rituals in the direct vicinity of the god’s resting place – were dedicated by the high priest and the vizier, in the end coming to rest as votive objects in the “Tomb of Osiris”. The hieroglyphic text on this votive pottery was composed during the reign of Ramesses II, when the interest in Umm el-Qaab flourished. It is cast as a speech by the king himself, as having entered upon his kingly rule following his father, probably to announce his accession to the throne to the oldest royal ancestors at Abydos. In spite of the fragmentary state of preservation of the text, it contains precious information on the ceremonies conducted at the Osirian sacred site during the regenerative rituals of what is known as the Khoiak Festival.
A Thousand Miles Up the Nile
Mødedato: Mandag d. 3/6-2024 kl. 18
Lokale: KUA1 23.0.49
A Thousand Miles Up the Nile with Amelia Edwards, v. Carl Graves, PhD, Director of the Egypt Exploration Society
A chance visit to Egypt in 1873 by Amelia B Edwards changed the future of British Egyptology forever. Her travelogue, A Thousand Miles Up the Nile, would inspire generations after her to take up her message to support and promote Egyptian cultural heritage.
Attendees will hear about Amelia’s life and relive Amelia’s 1873 journey up the Nile with Dr Carl Graves, Director of the Society that she set up in 1882. The presentation is illustrated with archival material held by the Egypt Exploration Society as well as original artwork by Amelia kept at the Griffith Institute and Somerville College, both University of Oxford, and the Peggy Joy Egyptology Library.
Carl Graves is Director of the Egypt Exploration Society. He completed his PhD at the University of Birmingham, and his research now focuses on ancient Egyptian settlement archaeology and the development of British Egyptology during the late eighteenth century. Carl is responsible for managing the Society’s day-to-day operations in its London and Cairo Offices and works closely with Board, Committees, volunteers, and staff to deliver the Society’s charitable activities, research, and publications programme.
One Tomb, Two Kings
Mødedato: Lørdag d. 9/3-2024 kl. 14
Lokale: 15A.1.11
One Tomb, Two Kings: Unlocking the Sequence of Construction and Decoration in Theban Tomb 110, v. JJ. Shirley, PhD, Director of the TT110 Epigraphy and Research Field School
Theban Tomb 110, well-known for its depiction of both Hatshepsut and Thutmose III, presents a unique opportunity to examine the degree of personal involvement that the tomb’s owner, Djehuty, had in its decoration. In 2022 the epigraphic work of the TT110 Epigraphy and Research Field School completed the first full documentation of the tomb. The results of the work provide new information that allows for a more nuanced understanding of the timeline of the tomb’s design, and the owner’s career. In this talk I will present the findings of the field school, suggesting a chronology for TT110’s construction and decoration and highlighting Djehuty’s participation in the process.
An interdisciplinary approach to the study of a rare mummy with painted shroud
Mødedato: Onsdag d. 24/4 2024 Kl. 19
Lokale: KUA 23.0.49
An interdisciplinary approach to the study of a rare mummy with painted shroud, v. Daniela Picchi, Head or Curator of the Egyptian Collection, Archaeological Museum of Bologna
This study was promoted by the Bologna Archaeological Museum and Eurac Research, Institute for Mummy Studies in Bolzano (Italy), in the framework of the Bologna mummy project (BOmp). The mummy with a rare painted shroud (1st-2nd century A.D.) belonged to the collection of the Bolognese artist Pelagio Palagi (1875-1860), who offered over three thousand Egyptian antiquities to his hometown at a reasonable price through a bequest in his will.
The aim of the project was to return the mummy, which had been stored in the museum’s storerooms since the late 1970s, to the scientific community and the public. This project requested an interdisciplinary diagnostic approach to acquire the tomography computed (CT) scans of the bodies, to obtain the radiocarbon date (14C), to reconstruct the biological (e.g., sex, age at death) and the paleopathological profiles, as well as to insight the embalming techniques. Additionally, the mummy underwent a complex restoration work before being displayed in the museum.
An interdisciplinary approach to the study of a rare mummy with painted shroud
Mødedato: Torsdag d. 25/4-2024 kl. 17.30– døren låses 17.20!
Antikmuseet på Aarhus Universitet,
Victor Albecksvej, Århus C, bygning 1414
An interdisciplinary approach to the study of a rare mummy with painted shroud, v. Daniela Picchi, Head or Curator of the Egyptian Collection, Archaeological Museum of Bologna
This study was promoted by the Bologna Archaeological Museum and Eurac Research, Institute for Mummy Studies in Bolzano (Italy), in the framework of the Bologna mummy project (BOmp). The mummy with a rare painted shroud (1st-2nd century A.D.) belonged to the collection of the Bolognese artist Pelagio Palagi (1875-1860), who offered over three thousand Egyptian antiquities to his hometown at a reasonable price through a bequest in his will.
The aim of the project was to return the mummy, which had been stored in the museum’s storerooms since the late 1970s, to the scientific community and the public. This project requested an interdisciplinary diagnostic approach to acquire the tomography computed (CT) scans of the bodies, to obtain the radiocarbon date (14C), to reconstruct the biological (e.g., sex, age at death) and the paleopathological profiles, as well as to insight the embalming techniques. Additionally, the mummy underwent a complex restoration work before being displayed in the museum.
An interdisciplinary approach to the study of a rare mummy with painted shroud – og julefest
Mødedato: Mandag d. 4/12-2023 Kl. 18
Lokale: KUA1 23.0.49
An interdisciplinary approach to the study of a rare mummy with painted shroud, v. Daniela Picchi, Head or Curator of the Egyptian Collection, Archaeological Museum of Bologna
This study was promoted by the Bologna Archaeological Museum and Eurac Research, Institute for Mummy Studies in Bolzano (Italy), in the framework of the Bologna mummy project (BOmp). The mummy with a rare painted shroud (1st-2nd century A.D.) belonged to the collection of the Bolognese artist Pelagio Palagi (1875-1860), who offered over three thousand Egyptian antiquities to his hometown at a reasonable price through a bequest in his will.
The aim of the project was to return the mummy, which had been stored in the museum’s storerooms since the late 1970s, to the scientific community and the public. This project requested an interdisciplinary diagnostic approach to acquire the tomography computed (CT) scans of the bodies, to obtain the radiocarbon date (14C), to reconstruct the biological (e.g., sex, age at death) and the paleopathological profiles, as well as to insight the embalming techniques. Additionally, the mummy underwent a complex restoration work before being displayed in the museum.