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IEAA News and Information

The Institute of Egyptian Art and Archaeology is a Tennessee Center of Excellence. It is a component of the Department of Art at The University of Memphis, in Memphis, Tennessee (USA). The IEAA is dedicated to the study of the art, history and culture of ancient Egypt through teaching, research, exhibition, and community education.

 

The Egyptian Gallery is OPEN.


Important Safety Guidelines for your museum visit: masks and social distancing are strongly recommended.


Events and Programs for Fall 2023

 

Eighteenth Annual William J. Murnane Memorial Lecture

Co-sponsored by the Institute of Egyptian Art & Archaeology and the Department of History at the University of Memphis

Dr. Jacquelyn Williamson
Associate Professor of Art and Archaeology of the Ancient Mediterranean World
History and Art History Department, George Mason University
 
“Nefertiti’s Sun Temple at Tell el-Amarna”

  • When: Thursday, October 26, 2023
  • Where: University Center Fountain View Suite (Room 350)  7 pm

 

7th Annual IEAA Alumnae/Alumni Lecture

Dr. Michelle Marlar
Director, Egyptian Archaeological Missions
Houston Museum of Natural Science


“The Osiris Temple at Abydos: Phases and Destruction”

  • When: Thursday, September 21, 2023
  • Where: Art & Communication Building (ACB) Rm 310,  7 pm

Events and Programs for Spring 2023

For more information about these events visit the IEAA Events page, or select highlighted text in one of the events below.

    • Nineteenth Annual Legacy of Egypt Lecture
      Zoom with us to learn more about George Reisner on Thursday evening, April 6, 2023, with a lecture by Dr. Peter Der Manuelian, Barbara Bell professor, Harvard University, Cambridge. His virtual lecture will cover his interdisciplinary visualization and digital humanities approach to understanding the ancient world and his most recent publication, Walking Among Pharaohs, George A. Reisner and the Dawn of Modern Egyptology (Oxford, 2022).

    • Special Food Lecture by Dr. Amr Khalaf Shahat
      Explore with us the foodways of ancient Egyptians on Monday evening, March 20, 2023, with a lecture by Dr. Amr Khalaf Shahat, Postdoctoral researcher at Costen Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles. His in-person and virtual lecture will cover the results of an interdisciplinary analysis using archaeobotany and isotopic methods on unpublished ancient Egyptian food remains from Nag ed Deir and Deir el Ballas.

    • Seventeenth Annual William J. Murnane Memorial Lecture
      Join us via YouTube on Thursday evening, December 15, 2022, for the Seventeenth Annual William J. Murnane Memorial Lecture by Dr. Marc Gabolde, Professor of Egyptology at Paul-Valéry University – Montpellier III, Montpellier, France. His virtual lecture will bring us up-to-date on his research and reconstruction of the mysterious monument build by King Ay for his predecessor Tutankhamun.

    • Special Lecture on Tutankhamun by Dr. Peter J. Brand
      Explore with us Tutankhamun's afterlife in the evening of Friday, November 4, 2022 with a lecture from Dr. Peter J. Brand, Professor of History at the University of Memphis. His lecture presents Tutankhamun's journey in the afterlife through his funerary items including, coffins, golden death mask, jewelry and other items on or near his body.

    • Sixth Annual IEAA Aluminae/Alumni Lecture
      Join us the evening of Thursday, October 27, 2022, for a presentation by Dr. Mark Janzen, Associate Professor of Archaeology and Ancient History at Lipscomb University in Nashville, TN. His lecture presents new findings on the identity of the pharaoh responsible for a section of battle reliefs on the exterior wall at Karnak Temple in Luxor, Egypt. He will also bring us up up-to-date on his team's fieldwork at Karnak. Dr. Janzen earned his doctorate in the Department of History at the University of Memphis in 2013.

    • Ancient Egypt Family Day on the Internet - This activity is no longer available
      Join us for a fun and FREE online public event with lots of fun and interesting activities for all! Content will be available from April 18 through September 30, 2022. 
      This year we also have links to resources for educators and parents.

 


IEAA Director to Give Special Lecture at the University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee

TutankhamunDr. Lorelei H. Corcoran, Professor of Art History (Egyptian art and archaeology) and Director of the Institute of Egyptian Art & Archaeology at the University of Memphis will present a lecture on "Wonderful Things’: Decoding Tutankhamun’s Jewelry”.

This event is free and open to the public in the evening of Thursday, October 20, 2022.

Join Dr. Corcoran for her in person lecture on the most beautiful and enigmatic examples of Tutankhamun’s jewelry and accessories and analyze them for their value as representing the ancient Egyptians’ design preferences, their love of the interplay between text and image, and the religious and historical significance of these items. In the 100 years since the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb, there have been blockbuster exhibitions and numerous films and publications about its discovery and the “wonderful things” found in it. Most publications are catalogues of categories of objects or discussions of individual objects and few explore the significance of the choices made contributing toward an overall decorative program of meaning. This talk will present some of the most beautiful and enigmatic examples of Tutankhamun’s jewelry and accessories and analyze them for their value as representing the ancient Egyptians’ design preferences, their love of the interplay between text and image, and the religious and historical significance of these items. 

This lecture is presented by the Egyptology Graduate Student Associate and American Research Center in Egypt Tennessee Chapter.

      • When: Thursday, October 20, 6:00 p.m. Memphis time.
      • Where: Art and Communications Building, Room 314, Main Campus, University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee
        Pay parking is available for $3.00/hr. in the Fogelman Garage (Lot 40, PG1) on Fogelman Drive (formerly Fogelman Drive) 

 

IEAA Assistant Director to Give Special Virtual Lecture at de Young Museum, San Francisco, California

Book of the GatesDr. Joshua Roberson, Associate Professor of Art History (Egyptian art and archaeology) and Assistant Director of the Institute of Egyptian Art & Archaeology at the University of Memphis will present a lecture on "No One Should Brave the Underworld Alone": Traversing Eternity in the Age of Ramses the Great. This event is free and open to the public both in-person and online in the afternoon of Saturday, October 15, 2022.

Join Dr. Roberson for his live stream on youtube and in-person lecture on the change in Ramesside Age Egyptian religious thought which is expressed through the labyrinthine maps that contain imagery of the Egyptian cosmos, deities, demons, the damned, and the blessed dead in Nineteenth Dynasty tombs and temples. This hybrid (in-person and simulcast online) event is presented by the De Young Museum in San Francisco.

For more information about his presentation visit: https://deyoung.famsf.org/calendar/no-one-should-brave-underworld-alone-traversing-eternity-age-ramses-great

IEAA Director to Give Special Virtual Lecture at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Lorelei Corcoran

Dr. Lorelei H. Corcoran, Professor of Art History (Egyptian art and archaeology) and Director of the Institute of Egyptian Art & Archaeology at the University of Memphis will present a lecture on The “Mummy Portraits” of Roman Egypt: Status, Ethnicity, and Magic. This event is free and open to the public both in-person and online on the evening of October 6, 2022.

Join Dr. Corcoran for her in-person and Zoom lecture on the production and function of the “mummy portraits” that were popular throughout Egypt in the Roman period and discover what these images reveal about the religious beliefs and multi-layered ethnicities of their subjects. Her lecture is part of the exhibition at the Harvard Art Museums: Funerary Portraits from Roman Egypt which is open through December 31, 2022. This hybrid (in-person and simulcast online) event is presented by the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East and the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture in collaboration with the Harvard Art Museums. For more information about her presentation visit: https://hmsc.harvard.edu/mummy-portraits-roman-egypt

 

Federal Agents Seek IEAA Help to Identify Potentially Stolen Egyptian Artifact

Canopic Jar Lid

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in Memphis, TN, seized a package on August 17 that contained an ancient Egyptian canopic jar lid. They contacted Egyptologists from the University of Memphis' Institute of Egyptian Art and Archaeology who cornfirmed the authenticity of the piece.

The lid depicts the deity Imsety, who protects the deceased person's liver from harm. Canopic jars were made in sets of four and contained the internal organs which were removed from the body as part of the mummification process. The lids were often in the shape of four gods - human, jackal, baboon and falcon - who were thought to magically protect the jars' contents. This lid dates to the Third Intermediate Period (1,069 BCE - 653 BCE).  For more information, see the article on the U.S. Customs and Border Protection web site: https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/local-media-release/memphis-seizes-ancient-egyptian-artifact.

 



Professor in the News - The New York Times

Golden MummiesDr. Lorelei H. Corcoran, Professor and Director of the Institute of Egyptian Art & Archaeology, was quoted in the NY Times article, “Archaeologists Find Mummies with Golden Tongues,” a feature in the Science Section, February 3, 2021. An expert on Egyptian mummies of the Roman period, Dr. Corcoran was consulted to comment on the recent discovery at the Egyptian site of Taposiris Magna of mummies with gilded tongues found during the Egyptian-Dominican excavation in search of the remains of Cleopatra VII and Marc Antony.




(Photo Credit: The New York Times)

 


The Pharaohs' Golden Parade

 

On April 3, 2021, 22 royal mummies, 18 kings and 4 queens, left the Egyptian Museum on Cairo's Tahrir Square for their new home at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in a parade that wound through Cairo.

Watch the full parade and celebration here!

Dr. Suzanne Onstine, Associate Professor in the Department of History, was interviewed about the parade on the BBC. Listen to hear her thoughts about the significance of the event. 

 

 

Yegegi shrine by IEAA on Sketchfab

Virtual Exhibition of Egyptian Artifacts in 3D!

Dr. Joshua Roberson, assistant professor of Art History, is working on a project to develop new skills and techniques for creating three dimensional (3D) images for research and teaching. He is compiling a pilot sample using artifacts in the IEAA collection. The images can be manipulated by the viewer to see all sides of an object. 

Click here to see six more 3D images of IEAA antiquities on Sketchfab.


 

Video Resources

Past Online Events
Past lectures sponsored by the IEAA are available on the CCFA Memphis YouTube page or in the IEAA Online Events Archive.

Videos of Egyptian Artifacts
University of Memphis graduate students in Art History create videos of objects in the IEAA's Egyptian collection. As part of a class assignment under the guidance of Dr. Lorelei Corcoran, three students each selected, researched and produced a short video on an ancient Egyptian object. Watch these videos on the University of Memphis' YouTube page or in IEAA Collections Videos