The Future of Egyptology

Think of Ancient Egypt, and you’re likely to think of hieroglyphic-covered tombs being unsealed by Victorian explorers, revealing ‘wonderful things’ – as Howard Carter famously remarked on seeing Tutankhamun’s treasures for the first time. But how did the practice known as ‘Egyptology’ become the domain of wealthy Europeans? And what can be done in future to give agency back to the country where it all began?

Dr Monica Hanna has spent her career monitoring and trying to disrupt the flow of Ancient Egyptian antiquities out of her home country – in the past, she has even directly confronted armed graverobbers. In The Future of Egyptology, she presents a broad and generous vision of Egyptology as it could and should be: a subject not only concerned with the glitz and glamour of the Pharoahs, but with connecting the ancient world with the Egypt of today – as well as reclaiming its treaures.

Hanna argues that only by disentangling Egyptology from its problematic past of looting, racism and Euro-centric thinking can the subject truly find a way forward. The Future of Egytology is a brilliantly argued, unexpected and deeply rewarding journey into the future – via ancient history.