Barry Kemp (Egyptologist)

Barry John Kemp, CBE, FBA is an English archaeologist and Egyptologist. He is Professor Emeritus of Egyptology at the University of Cambridge and the field director of the Egypt Exploration Society excavations at Amarna in Egypt. His widely renowned book Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilisation is a core text of Egyptology and many Ancient History courses.

Academic career

In 1990, Kemp was elected a Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge. He was Professor of Egyptology at the University of Cambridge until 2007. In 2008, he became a Fellow of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.

From 1977, he has been the director of excavation and archaeological survey at Amarna for the Egypt Exploration Society.

He has also contributed to many other highly regarded and widely used Egyptology texts, including the Journal of Civilisations of the Ancient Near East, edited by Jack Sasson, and Ancient Egypt: A Social History, which incorporates the work of many leading Egyptologists and addresses recent trends in the subject towards developing a holistic picture of Ancient Egyptian society rather than focussing on the elite culture that dominates the archaeological record.

Honours

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.