In 2005, the Amarna Project began a long-term study of the non-elite cemeteries of Amarna. These burial grounds offer enormous research potential, and are being investigated within a framework that integrates the study of human remains, housing, ritual, diet and living conditions at the site. Key themes include: health and quality of life in ancient Egypt; non-elite funerary belief; and response to change – how did these people cope with the move to Amarna and Akhenaten’s religious reforms? 

From 2006 to 2013, fieldwork focussed on a large cemetery beside the South Tombs. 367 graves were excavated and a minimum of 398 individuals recovered. We found a rich assemblage of burial materials including decorated coffins, stelae, amulets, vessels, burial mats and food offerings. This now forms one of the largest corpuses of well-excavated cemetery data available from pharaonic Egypt. The study of the human remains reveals a population suffering from poor overall health and heavy workloads, whilst finds such as decorated coffins with both traditional and new ‘godless’ decorative schemes hint at changes in funerary belief. The site provides remarkable perspective on what it meant to live through Akhenaten's reign. 

As we now work to share the excavation results through publication, we ask for your support. Our vision is that the cemetery publication will be wide-ranging in thematic scope,  and engage both traditional and open-access digital forms of presentation. It will be an invaluable source for researchers and students of archaeology, history, Egyptology and bioarchaeology.

Can you help?

The Amarna Project is committed to rapid and professional archaeological reporting, and your donation will be put towards the costs of producing specialist text and images. We aim for a publication date of 2017.

No donation is too small - every little bit makes a difference. Thank you for your interest in our work.

- The Amarna Project Team

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