View source for Joyce Tyldesley

{{short description|British archaeologist and Egyptologist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}
{{EngvarB|date=February 2020}}
{{Infobox academic
| name               = <!-- defaults to article title when left blank -->
| honorific_suffix   = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|OBE}}
| image              = Joyce Tyldesley and Nefertiti (cropped).jpg
| image_upright      = 
| alt                = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software -->
| caption            = Joyce Tyldesley in 2011
| birth_name         = <!-- only use if different from name -->
| birth_date         = {{Birth date and age|1960|02|25}} 
| birth_place        = 
| education          = [[Bolton School]]
| discipline         = [[Egyptology]]<br>[[Archaeology]]
| alma_mater         = [[University of Liverpool]] (BA)<br>[[University of Oxford]] (DPhil)
| thesis_title       = The latest handaxe industries of the British Palaeolithic, with reference to their affinities in north-west Europe
| awards             = [[Felicia A. Holton Book Award]] (2014)
| thesis_year        = 1986
| thesis_url          =https://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/44OXF_INST/35n82s/alma990114632960107026
| employer           = [[University of Manchester]]
| known_for          = 
| spouse             = <!-- use article title or common name -->
| partner            = <!-- (unmarried long-term partner) -->
| website            = {{Official URL}}
}}
'''Joyce Ann Tyldesley''' {{postnominals|country=GBR|OBE}} (born 25 February 1960)<ref>{{cite book|title=International Who's Who of Authors and Writers 2004|page=551|year=2003|publisher=Europa Publications (Psychology Press)|isbn=9781857431797}}</ref><ref name=dob/> is a British [[Archaeology|Archaeologist]] and [[Egyptologist]], academic, writer and broadcaster who specialises in research on [[women in ancient Egypt]].<ref name=bread>{{cite Q| Q60172908}}</ref> She was interviewed on the TV series ''[[Cunk on Earth]]'', about [[Egyptian pyramids]], in 2022.<ref name=imdb/><ref>{{Cite web |last=Pandya |first=Hershal |date=2023-02-10 |title=Cunk on Earth Is So Perfectly Stupid |url=https://www.vulture.com/article/cunk-on-earth-is-perfectly-stupid.html |access-date=2023-10-18 |website=vulture.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20130129190517/http://newbooksinbiography.com/2011/03/11/joyce-tyldesley-%E2%80%9Ccleopatra-last-queen-of-egypt%E2%80%9D-basic-books-2008/ Interview]}} with Tyldesley on "New Books in Biography"</ref>

== Education and early life==
Tyldesley was born in [[Bolton, Lancashire]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.watsonlittle.com/client/joyce-tyldesley/|title=Joyce Tyldesley|website=Watson Little|language=en-US|access-date=2020-04-24}}</ref> and privately educated at [[Bolton School]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.boltonschool.org/former-pupils/alumni-in-the-spotlight/joyce-tyldesley-1964-1978/|title=Bolton School Former Pupils: Joyce Tyldesley (1964–1978)|last=|first=|date=|website=boltonschool.org|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200213205905/https://www.boltonschool.org/former-pupils/alumni-in-the-spotlight/joyce-tyldesley-1964-1978/|archive-date=2020-02-13|access-date=2020-04-24|author=Anon|year=2020}}</ref> In 1981, she earned a [[first-class honours degree]] in [[archaeology]] from the [[University of Liverpool]] specialising in the [[Eastern Mediterranean]]. She moved to the [[University of Oxford]]; initially at [[St Anne's College, Oxford]] then, following the award of a scholarship, at [[St Cross College, Oxford]]. In 1986, she was awarded a [[Doctor of Philosophy]] degree in [[Paleolithic]] archaeology, for her thesis on [[Mousterian]] [[biface]]s (handaxes) in Northern Europe.<ref name=dphil>{{cite thesis|degree=DPhil|first=Joyce Ann|last=Tyldesley|title=The latest handaxe industries of the British Palaeolithic, with reference to their affinities in north-west Europe|url=https://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/44OXF_INST/35n82s/alma990114632960107026|website=ox.ac.uk|publisher=University of Oxford|oclc= 863282030|year=1986}}</ref>

==Career and research==

[[File:Joyce Tyldesley and Nefertiti.jpg|thumb|right|Joyce Tyldesley holding a replica [[Nefertiti]] bust]]
After her [[DPhil]], Tyldesley then returned to Liverpool as a [[lecturer]] in Prehistoric Archaeology. Tyldesley next worked as a freelance Egyptologist/archaeologist; writing books, working with television companies, and teaching in further and higher education and online.

In 2007, she joined the [[University of Manchester]], as a joint appointment between the [[Manchester Museum]] and the Faculty of Life Sciences. {{As of|2023}}, she is Professor of Egyptology in the Department of Classics, Ancient History, Archaeology and Egyptology where she is tutor and Programme Director of the three-year online Certificate in Egyptology programme, the two-year online [[Diploma]] in Egyptology programme and the two year part-time online [[Master of Arts]] (MA) degree in Egyptology programme.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.alc.manchester.ac.uk/egyptology/|title=Egyptology – The University of Manchester|website=www.alc.manchester.ac.uk|access-date=2020-04-24}}</ref> She has devised, writes, directs and teaches a suite of on-line Short Courses in Egyptology, and has created several free online Egyptology [[massive open online course]] (MOOCs), working in conjunction with the Manchester Museum. ''Mumford the Mummy'' is a series of lessons aimed at [[Key Stage 2]] children [[primary school]], freely available online.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nearpod.com/t/social-studies/3rd-grade/mummification-in-ancient-egypt-L30034468|title= Mummification in Ancient Egypt|website=nearpod.com|access-date=2020-04-24}}</ref>

Tyldesley is a [[Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy]] (SFHEA) and a Research Associate of the Manchester Museum. Tyldesley is President of Bolton Archaeology and Egyptology Society and a former trustee of the Egypt Exploration Society.<ref name=dob/>

Tyldesley has extensive archaeological fieldwork experience, having excavated in Britain, Europe and Egypt where she worked with the [[British Museum]] at [[Ashmunein]], with the University of Liverpool in the Eastern [[Nile Delta]], and where she conducted her own field survey at [[Tuna el-Gebel]].

Tyldesley has been interviewed on various TV series including ''Empires: Egypt's Golden Empire'' (2001), and ''The Nile: Egypt's Great River with Bettany Hughes'' (2019).<ref name=imdb>{{IMDB name}}</ref>

=== Accountancy and Rutherford Press Limited ===
Tyldesley is a part-qualified [[Chartered Accountant]], and spent 17 years supporting her writing career by working as a small business manager for Crossley and Davis Chartered Accountants in Bolton.<ref name=dob>{{cite web|url=https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/4MkiWrMbSdGBvt2O8Q_lNs2NmSo/appointments|website=gov.uk|publisher=[[Companies House]]|location=London|title=Joyce Ann TYLDESLEY}}</ref>

In 2004 Tyldesley established, with Steven Snape, Rutherford Press Limited, a publishing firm dedicated to publishing serious but accessible books on ancient Egypt while raising money for Egyptology field work. Donations from Rutherford Press Limited totalling £3,000 were made to Manchester Museum, the Egypt Exploration Society and the University of Liverpool fieldwork project at [[Zawyet Umm El Rakham]]. Rutherford Press closed in February 2017, to allow Tyldesley to concentrate on her teaching.{{cn|date = February 2024}}

=== Publications ===

Tyldesley has written academic and popular books for adults and children, including books to accompany the television series ''Private Lives of the Pharaohs'' (Channel 4), ''Egypt's Golden Empire'' (Lion Television) and ''Egypt'' (BBC). In January 2008 book ''Cleopatra: Last Queen of Egypt'', was the [[Book of the Week]] on [[BBC Radio 4]]. Her play for children, The Lost Scroll, premiered at Kendal Museum in 2011. Her book ''Tutankhamen's Curse''<ref name=curse/> was awarded the [[Felicia A. Holton Book Award]] by the [[Archaeological Institute of America]] in 2014.

=== Gender and ancient history ===
Tyldesley has written about the role of [[women in ancient Egypt]], such as [[Hatshepsut]], a female pharaoh, in the 18th dynasty. <ref name=hatch>{{Cite book|first=Joyce A. |last=Tyldesley |title=Hatchepsut : the female pharaoh |oclc=39109151|year= 1998|ISBN=9780140244649|publisher=[[Penguin Books]]|location=London}}</ref> She has written about Egyptian women and their lives, as well as the roles of power women held in ancient societies. She has described how in ancient Egypt, women:<blockquote>'enjoyed a legal, social and sexual independence unrivalled by their Greek or Roman sisters, or in fact by most women until the late nineteenth century'.<ref name=daughters>{{Cite web |title=Daughters of Isis: Women of Ancient Egypt |url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/797160.Daughters_of_Isis |access-date=2023-10-18 |website=Goodreads |language=en}} {{ISBN missing}}</ref> </blockquote>She has written about the lives of women in ancient Egypt.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Meskell |first=Lynn |author-link=Lynn Meskell |date=1997 |title=Engendering Egypt |quote= Tyldesley ... [takes] an everything you need to know about ancient women approach|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1468-0424.00078 |journal=Gender & History |language=en |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=597–602 |doi=10.1111/1468-0424.00078 |s2cid=247702496 |issn=0953-5233|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Tyldesley commented that she thought Hatshepsut may have been 'keenly conscious of her exceptional place in history', as there were inscriptions on a pair of obelisks erected, which said:<blockquote>"Now my heart turns this way and that, as I think what the people will say—those who shall see my monuments in years to come, and who shall speak of what I have done."<ref>{{Cite web |author=Anon |title=The Queen Who Would Be King |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-queen-who-would-be-king-130328511/ |access-date=2023-10-18 |website=smithsonianmag.com |language=en}}</ref></blockquote>Tyldesley was also on a panel, hosted by [[Bettany Hughes]] of the BBC, on how [[Nefertiti]], [[Cleopatra]], and Hatshepsut ruled in positions of power, and 'flipped gender roles'. The panel discussed examples of women who were able to take and hold power via 'bravery, guile... self-reinvention... and the ability to control their own image'.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Johnson {{!}} |first=Reed |date=2018-08-09 |title=Women Rocked the Ancient World—But Ruling It Was Harder {{!}} The Takeaway |url=https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/2018/08/09/women-rocked-ancient-world-ruling-harder/events/the-takeaway/ |access-date=2023-10-18 |website=Zócalo Public Square |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== Publications  ===
Tyldesley's publications include:

*''The Wolvercote Channel Handaxe Assemblage: A Comparative Study''<ref name=wolvercote>The Wolvercote Channel Handaxe Assemblage: A Comparative Study (Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, 1986)</ref>
*''The Bout Coupe Biface: a Typological Problem''<ref name=bout>The Bout Coupe Biface: a Typological Problem (Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, 1987)</ref>
*''Nazlet Tuna: An Archaeological Survey in Middle Egypt''<ref name=nazlet>Nazlet Tuna: An Archaeological Survey in Middle Egypt (with Steven Snape) (Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, 1988)</ref>
*''Daughters of Isis: Women of Ancient Egypt''<ref name=daughters/>
*''Hatchepsut: The Female Pharaoh''<ref name=hatch/>
*''Nefertiti: Egypt's Sun Queen''<ref name=sun>Nefertiti: Egypt's Sun Queen (London: Viking/Penguin, 1999){{ISBN missing}}</ref>
*''The Mummy: Unwrap the Ancient Secrets of the Mummy's Tombs''<ref name=mummy>The Mummy: Unwrap the Ancient Secrets of the Mummy's Tomb (London: Carlton Books Ltd., 1999){{ISBN missing}}</ref>
*''Ramesses: Egypt's Greatest Pharaoh''<ref name=ramesses>Ramesses: Egypt's Greatest Pharao (London: Viking/Penguin, 2000){{ISBN missing}}</ref>
*''Judgement of the Pharaoh: Crime and Punishment in Ancient Egypt''<ref name=judge>Judgement of the Pharaoh: Crime and Punishment in Ancient Egypt (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2000){{ISBN missing}}</ref>
*''The Private Lives of the Pharaohs''<ref name=private>The Private Lives of the Pharaohs (London: Channel 4 Books, 2000){{ISBN missing}}</ref>
*''Egypt's Golden Empire: The Age of the New Kingdom''<ref name=golden>Egypt's Golden Empire: The Age of the New Kingdom (London: Headline, 2001){{ISBN missing}}</ref>
*''Tales from Ancient Egypt''<ref name=tales>Tales from Ancient Egypt (Rutherford Press Ltd., 2001){{ISBN missing}}</ref>
*''Pyramids: The Real Story behind Egypt's most Ancient Monuments''<ref name=pyramids>Pyramids: The Real Story behind Egypt's most Ancient Monuments (London: Viking/Penguin, 2003){{ISBN missing}}</ref>
*''Unearthing the Past''<ref name=unearth>Unearthing the Past (with Paul Bahn and Douglas Palmer) (London: Mitchell Beazley, 2005){{ISBN missing}}</ref>
*''[[Egypt (TV series)#Companion book|Egypt: How a Lost Civilization was Rediscovered]]''<ref name=companion>Egypt: How a Lost Civilization was Rediscovered: Companion book, (London: BBC Books, 2005){{ISBN missing}}</ref>
*''Chronicle of the Queens of Egypt''<ref name=chronicle>Chronicle of the Queens of Egypt (London: Thames & Hudson Ltd., 2006){{ISBN missing}}</ref>
*''Egyptian Games and Sports''<ref name=games>Egyptian Games and Sports (Princes Risborough: Shire Books, 2007){{ISBN missing}}</ref>
*''INSIDERS: Egypt (Ancient Egypt Revealed)''<ref name=insiders>INSIDERS: Egypt (Ancient Egypt Revealed) (Templar, 2007){{ISBN missing}}</ref>
*''Mummy Mysteries: The Secret World of Tutankhamun and the Pharaohs''<ref name=mysteries>Mummy Mysteries: The Secret World of Tutankhamun and the Pharaohs (London: Carlton Books Ltd., 2007){{ISBN missing}}</ref>
*''Cleopatra: Last Queen of Egypt''<ref name=Cleopatra>Cleopatra: Last Queen of Egypt (London: Profile Books Ltd., 2008){{ISBN missing}}M</ref>
*''The Pharaohs''<ref name=pharaohs>The Pharaohs (London: Quercus, 2009){{ISBN missing}}</ref>
*''Myths and Legends of Ancient Egypt''<ref name=myths>Myths and Legends of Ancient Egypt (London: Viking/Penguin, 2010){{ISBN missing}}</ref>
*''Stories from Ancient Greece and Rome''<ref name=stories>Stories from Ancient Greece and Rome (Oxbow Books, 2017){{ISBN missing}}</ref>
*''Tutankhamen's Curse: The Developing History of an Egyptian King''<ref name=curse>Tutankhamen's Curse: The Developing History of an Egyptian King (London: Profile Books Ltd., 2012) (published in the USA as ''Tutankhamen'') {{ISBN missing}}</ref>
*''Stories from Ancient Egypt: Egyptian Myths and Legends for Children''<ref name=children>Stories from Ancient Egypt: Egyptian Myths and Legends for Children (Oxbow Books, 2012){{ISBN missing}}</ref>
*''Nefertiti's Face: The Creation of an Icon''<ref name=icon>Stories from Ancient Egypt: Egyptian Myths and Legends for Children (London: Profile Books Ltd., 2018){{ISBN missing}}</ref>
*''From Mummies to Microchips: A Case Study in Online Learning''<ref name=microchips> From Mummies to Microchips: A Case Study in Online Learning (with Nicky Nielsen) (Routledge 2020){{ISBN missing}}</ref>

=== Awards and honours === 

Tyldesley was appointed [[Officer of the Order of the British Empire]] (OBE) in the [[2024 New Year Honours]] for services to Egyptology and heritage.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=64269|supp=y|page=N16|date=30 December 2023}}</ref> Other awards include:

* 2014 - [[Felicia A. Holton Book Award]] from the [[Archaeological Institute of America]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Joyce Tyldesley |url=https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Joyce-Tyldesley/199223121 |access-date=2023-10-18 |website=simonandschuster.com|publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |language=en}}</ref>
* 2019 - Outstanding Technology Enhanced Learning Award<ref>{{Cite web |title=Egyptology storms Outstanding Teaching Awards |url=https://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/news/egyptology-storms-outstanding-teaching-awards/ |access-date=2023-10-18 |language=en|website=manchester.ac.uk|author=Anon|year=2019}}</ref>
* 2011 - Tyldesley was awarded an [[honorary doctorate]] by the [[University of Bolton]] in recognition of her contribution to education.{{fact|date=March 2025}}

==Personal life==
Tyldesley has two children.{{fact|date=March 2025}}
==References==
{{reflist}}



{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tyldesley, Joyce}}
[[Category:People from Bolton]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:English archaeologists]]
[[Category:English Egyptologists]]
[[Category:People educated at Bolton School]]
[[Category:British women archaeologists]]
[[Category:1960 births]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Oxford]]
[[Category:Academics of the University of Manchester]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]]