Barry Kemp (Egyptologist)

Barry John Kemp, Template:Post-nominals (14th May 1940 – 15th 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.

Life and education

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

Academic career

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

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. 1977 until 2008, he was the director of excavation and archaeological survey at Amarna for the Egypt Exploration Society. He continued his research of the Amarna Period of ancient Egypt as director of the Amarna Project and secretary of the Amarna Trust. 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. 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..."Kemp's contributions to Egyptology reinvented it as a social science. Kemp's work in the excavation at the site of Amarna gave new information about the religion, and diets of ancient Egyptian citizens. Kemp challenged the works prior to him with the idea that Egyptians weren't entirely devout. 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.Towards the latter half of his life Kemp shifted his focus to the site of the Great Aten Temple in a neighboring village.

Honors

Kemp was elected Fellow of the British Academy (FBA) in 1992. 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. Kemp was inspirational and a dedicated professor always adding his new ideas about Egyptian civilizations.