The Leicestershire Ancient Egyptian Society was founded in 1989 to enable those who have visited Egypt as holidaymakers, or who have derived an interest in ancient Egypt through books or television, to expand their knowledge of this early civilisation.
At LAES we aim to ensure that members and visitors are treated to talks on a wide range of topics, covering all periods of ancient Egyptian history and delivered by consistently good speakers.
These include many prominent names, such as the speakers from our 2010-2011 Programme who are highlighted below.
Professor Barry Kemp of The Amarna Trust
The leading expert on the city of the heretic pharaoh Akhenaten, lectured on 16th October 2010. Barry described his most recent excavations in his lecture The Dead of Amarna and What They Are Telling Us: An Update on the Current Cemetery Excavations.
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Barry's familiarity with
the site (he has excavated there for over 40 years) really came
across, and you knew immediately you were in the hands of a master.
Some points of interest from 2010 finds included two painted wooden
coffins, carved limestone grave markers in the shape of mountain
peaks, and personal amulets, including a tiny frog carved from
carnelian and three scaraboid beads carved with hippopotamus backs. Also, a woman had been buried with a cone-shaped object on her head - is this one of the cones often depicted at times of celebration? From Horizon, the Amarna newsletter: - see photo right of "Head of a woman...On her head is a hollow cone of a pale, brittle, waxy substance." For more information, see www.amarnaproject.com/ |
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Joyce Filer B Ed, BA, MSc
Joyce is an Egyptologist and archaeologist who teaches on the mummies of Egypt, Sudan and Meso and South America. She is formerly Curator of Human & Animal Remains at the British Museum and one of the leading experts on mummies. She has undertaken cemetery excavations and participated in many CT-scanning projects and forensic examinations (including the body from KV55, possibly King Tut's brother).
On 18th December 2010,
Joyce came to LAES and entertained us with her lecture on The
Adventures of Some Egyptian Mummies! |
This is Mr Salty - a
mummy dug up in the Eastern Delta that had been immersed in salty
water due to the rising water table.  |
Joyce told us how she had examined this mummy which had been displayed in Victorian times. The wrappings around the head had been removed so that the face was exposed. It also wore a pair of workmen’s boots!  |
Scotland Yard kept this
mummy’s hand when they were testing fingerprinting techniques! |
Geoffrey Martin, Edwards Professor of Egyptian Archaeology and Philology Emeritus, University College, London
Geoffery is one of the great names in Egyptology. He recorded and published Akhenaten's
tomb at Amarna, as well as the other royal tombs nearby. He discovered the
tomb of Tutankhamun’s Treasurer, Maya, and his General, Horemheb, amongst
others, at Saqqara.
He also worked in the Valley of the Kings with the Amarna Royal Tombs
Project, and the subject of his talk to us on April 16th 2011 was
Re-excavating the Royal Tomb of Horemheb in the Valley of the Kings
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Geoffrey is one of the
most engaging of speakers, and really takes you with him on a voyage
of discovery. The thorough clearance work of Horemheb’s tomb, conducted in the most trying conditions, was able to throw light on what was discovered when the tomb was first opened. A very curious discovery was graffiti left by visitors which gave dates before the official discovery of the tomb. |
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Martin Davies, President of the Egypt Society of Bristol
A veteran visitor and researcher in Egyptian history, Martin previously visited
LAES to show us photographs he took of the temples of Nubia before and
during their move to escape the rising waters of Lake Nasser.
His topic, on 19th March 2011, was Ancient Egyptian Tomb Models of Daily
Life when he showed how these attractive figures, which were intended to
work for the deceased in the afterlife, had evolved from those in Old
Kingdom tombs, to those of the Middle Kingdom and later.
| This servant girl (pictured
on the right) from
the tomb of Meketre is his favourite. The website www.ancient-egypt.co.uk/metropolitan/pages/servant.htm gives more details of this beautiful model. |
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Another tomb that Martin Davies
spoke about was the tomb of Henu. The website www.guardians.net/hawass/news/deir_al_barsha.htm has more information about these incredible tomb models. |
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Lise Manniche, MA, PhD, Professor of Egyptology at the University of Copenhagen, Member of the board of the Danish Egyptological Society
Lise proved
to be a very interesting speaker. She has written many Egyptology books
such as Sacred Luxuries: Fragrance, Aromatherapy and Cosmetics in Ancient
Egypt, An Ancient Egyptian Herbal, Sexual Life in Ancient Egypt,
City
of the Dead: Thebes in Egypt and Music and Musicians in Ancient Egypt.
In February 2011, she spoke to us on the topic of her latest book The
Akhenaten Colossi of Karnak, which is a comprehensive history and analysis
of the remaining fragments from thirty colossal ancient Egyptian statues of
Akhenaten.
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She presented her opinions on the appearance of the king and her
interpretation of his alleged medical conditions.
On the subject of
Akhenaten’s sexuality, Professor Manniche stated "this was meant to be a
chapter in my book but it became almost the whole book!"
Dr Elena Pischikova, South Asasif Conservation Project
Elena is an
Egyptologist and an authority on Egyptian and Kushite Art of the Late
Kingdom (740 - 332 BCE).
In 2006, Dr. Pischikova discovered the 25th Dynasty
tombs of three Kushite nobles, Karakhamun, Karabasken and Irtieru, on the
West Bank of Luxor, Egypt, in an area known as South Asasif.
| Elena is a very enthusiastic speaker and on the 15th January 2011 she told us about the newly discovered burial chamber in the tomb of Karakhamun in her lecture on Rediscovered Kushite Tombs of the South Asasif: Seasons 2009-2010. |
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Wall paintings from the
tomb of priest Karakhamun depict the Egyptian deities (below). Images courtesy of the SCA. The website www.southasasif.com gives more information. |
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The tomb of the priest
Karakhamun (TT 223) is the largest in the necropolis with two
spacious pillared halls and a five room burial chamber. This tomb has not been accessible for a long time since the collapse of the ceiling (above). |
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Peter Clayton, author of the Chronicle of the Pharaohs
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On 20th November 2010, Leicestershire Ancient Egypt Society heard Peter
Clayton talking
about Jewels of the Pharaohs - what the tomb robbers missed. Peter showed us some beautiful examples of finds and stated that "Tutankhamum's jewellery was at the Woolworth’s end of the market compared to Middle Kingdom jewellery!" |
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Victor Blunden, Manchester Ancient Egypt Society
Victor held a fascinating talk about Building a Pyramid - The Archaeological Evidence on 21st May 2011.
| As he stated, no one knows how the Egyptians built pyramids, but we can look at the evidence that they left behind and think of a theory that matches! |
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Victor pointed out many interesting things that he has seen. Have you ever noticed the lozenge shaped blocks of stone or the holes in the base of blocks where levers could have been used? | |
| Victor presented the ideas of Martin Isler as one of the most convincing theories, which suggests a working platform at regular levels was used to construct the pyramids. |
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Speakers from previous years have included:
Aidan Dodson
The God’s Wives of Amun
The Tomb of Osiris at Abydos
Akhenaten’s Last Years and Successors
The Memphite Necropolis
Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed: Second Hand Material in
the Burial of Tutankhamun and Others
Lucia Gahlin
Attitudes Towards Women in Ancient Egypt
Creation Myths
Penny Wilson
Sacred Thebes
Sais: From pre-dynastic Fishing Village to Late Period capital
Carol Andrews
1001 Gods, Goddesses & Sacred Animals
The Iconography of Eroticism
Karen Exell
The Cult of Ramesses II at Deir el Medina
Art, Sex and Death in Ancient Egypt
Dylan Bickerstaffe
Caches, Cliffs and Kings: The Royal Mummies of Thebes
The Egyptian Labyrinth: A Middle Kingdom Enigma
The Niagara Mummy Mystery
The Fury of Amun: The Cursed Play in the Valley of the Queens
Plus other eminent Egyptologists!
See the SCHEDULE page for this years prominent speakers.