If you’re like me, museum visits were regular and cherished outings before the pandemic started. These days, I find myself fantasizing about walking through museum galleries, wandering from case to case and from civilization to civilization. The pandemic necessitated that cultural institutions around the world prioritize virtual learning over in-person visits and many museums have…
Author: Taylor Bryanne Woodcock
Taylor Bryanne Woodcock is an Egyptology Ph.D. candidate at the University of Toronto, where she also teaches Middle Egyptian. She currently works in Egypt at the South Asasif and in Sudan at Gebel Barkal.
The Symbolism of the Fly in Ancient Egypt
The ancient Egyptians held a deep reverence for the natural world, a reverence that led to the adoption of animal imagery as symbols of the divine and of kingship. Egyptian deities, even human-headed ones, often had one or more animal manifestations – animals considered sacred to the deity that were given to the god as…
Returning an Old Kingdom Queen to History
It’s a good day when archaeologists can return an individual, long deceased, to their place and time in history. Two weeks ago, the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced more discoveries at Saqqara, the same site that made the news for lion mummies in 2019 and a mummy cache a few months ago. Among…
5 Ways to Visit Egypt from Home
In February, I was fortunate enough to spend a few weeks in Sudan before the world shut down in March. Since then, I’ve been doing everything I can to alleviate some of my homesickness for the African continent. When you can’t travel to Egypt in real life, here are five ways you can visit from…
Review: Secrets of the Saqqara Tomb
A new Netflix documentary Secrets of the Saqqara Tomb, released last month, chronicles the discoveries made at Saqqara in 2018. It allows you to peer over the shoulders of the various members of an all-Egyptian team as they work in the Bubasteion necropolis on Saqqara’s eastern cliffs.
Karakhamun’s Ceiling Project (TT 223)
This summer, Taylor became the new project leader of the Karakhamun Ceiling Project in the South Asasif necropolis. An international team directed by Dr. Elena Pischikova is restoring and reconstructing three Late Period tombs to their original splendour, including the tomb of Karakhamun (TT 223) which completely collapsed in recent decades. The Nile Scribes are…
Putting Egypt Back in Egyptology
An Open Letter to Students of Egyptology: After returning to Canada from a two-week trip to Egypt last month, I am reflecting on some tough realities of studying Egyptology while living abroad. I loved living and working in Cairo as a graduate student, but after four years there, I had to resign myself to the…