Barry Kemp (Egyptologist)

Kemp was born to Ernest and Norah (nee Lawless) Kemp on 14th May 1940 in Birmingham.{{cite web|title=Barry Kemp, Who Unearthed Insights About Ancient Egypt, Dies at 84|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/29/world/africa/barry-kemp-dead.html|date=29 May 2024|last=Risen|first=Clay|website=The New York Times |access-date=29 May 2024}}{{cite web |title=Kemp, Prof. Barry John, (born 14 May 1940), Professor of Egyptology, 2005–07, now Emeritus, and Fellow, McDonald Institute of Archaeological Research, since 2008, University of Cambridge; Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge, 1990–2007, now Emeritus |url=http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whoswho/U22804 |website=Who's Who 2020 |publisher=Oxford University Press |access-date=19 May 2021 |language=en |date=1 December 2019}}Kemp was married three different times and divorced twice. He was survived by his third wife Miriam Bertram.{{Cite journal |last=Spence |first=Kate |date=2024-12-01 |title=Barry John Kemp 1940–2024 |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/03075133241300342?icid=int.sj-abstract.similar-articles.8 |journal=The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology |language=EN |volume=110 |issue=1–2 |pages=3–6 |doi=10.1177/03075133241300342 |issn=0307-5133}} His father Ernest, was a traveling salesmen who also served his time in the Egyptian military in  World War II.{{Cite news |last=Wilkinson |first=Toby |date=2024-06-12 |title=Barry Kemp obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/jun/12/barry-kemp-obituary#:~:text=Kemp%20was%20born%20in%20Birmingham,with%20a%20BA%20in%201962. |access-date=2025-02-28 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} 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.{{cite web |title=Professor Barry Kemp FBA |url=https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/fellows/barry-kemp-FBA/ |website=The British Academy |access-date=19 May 2021 |language=en}} 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.{{Cite web |last=Clough |first=Lydia |date=2024-05-21 |title=Prof Barry Kemp (1940-2024) |url=https://www.arch.cam.ac.uk/news/prof-barry-kemp-1940-2024 |access-date=2025-03-17 |website=www.arch.cam.ac.uk |language=en}} He died on 15th May 2024, in Cambridge, England, a day after his 84th birthday.{{cite news |title=In memory of Barry Kemp |url=https://www.museoegizio.it/en/explore/news/in-memory-of-barry-kemp/ |access-date=17 May 2024 |publisher=Museo Egizio |date=16 May 2024}}{{cite news |title=Barry Kemp, Egyptologist who dispelled myths about the 'Christ-like' pharaoh Akhenaten – obituary |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2024/05/20/barry-kemp-egyptologist-akhenaten-amarna/ |access-date=20 May 2024 |publisher=The Telegraph |date=20 May 2024}}

In 1962, Kemp joined the University of Cambridge as an assistant lecturer.{{cite web|title=Professor Barry Kemp|url=http://www.britac.ac.uk/users/professor-barry-kemp|work=British Academy Fellows|publisher=British Academy|accessdate=4 September 2016}} He was promoted to lecturer in 1969, Reader in Egyptology in 1990, and made Professor of Egyptology in 2005.{{cite web|title=September 16th 2013 – Barry Kemp|url=http://www.egyptstudy.org/index.php/lectures/10-ess-lectures-2017|publisher=Egyptian Study Society|accessdate=23 February 2014|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140302011757/http://www.egyptstudy.org/index.php/lectures/10-ess-lectures-2017|archivedate=2 March 2014|df=dmy-all}} He was also a Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge from 1990 to 2007.{{cite web|title=Professor Barry Kemp|url=http://www.wolfson.cam.ac.uk/people/professor-barry-kemp|publisher=Wolfson College, Cambridge|accessdate=23 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170923144814/https://www.wolfson.cam.ac.uk/people/professor-barry-kemp |archive-date=23 September 2017}} 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.{{cite web |last1=Jarman |first1=Emma |title=Prof Barry Kemp |url=https://www.arch.cam.ac.uk/staff/prof-barry-kemp |website=Department of Archaeology |publisher=University of Cambridge |access-date=19 May 2021 |language=en |date=2020-02-26}} Kemp was always inspiring his students with new ideas and constant intrest in the use of new methods.

In 1977 Kemp founded the Amarna Trust which seeks to preserve the ancient city of Amarna, bringing awareness to Amarna and the surrounding regions.{{Cite web |title=Home - Amarna Project. |url=https://www.amarnaproject.com |access-date=2025-03-14 |website=www.amarnaproject.com}} 1977 until 2008, he was the director of excavation and archaeological survey at Amarna for the Egypt Exploration Society.{{cite web|title=Barry Kemp honoured|url=http://www.ees.ac.uk/news/index/87.html|publisher=Egypt Exploration Society|accessdate=4 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160919163210/http://www.ees.ac.uk/news/index/87.html|archive-date=19 September 2016|url-status=dead}} He continued his research of the Amarna Period of ancient Egypt as director of the Amarna Project and secretary of the Amarna Trust.{{cite web|title=Contact|url=http://www.amarnaproject.com/contact.shtml|publisher=Armarna Project|accessdate=4 September 2016}} 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.Bruce Trigger, B.J. Kemp, D. O'Connor, and A.B. Lloyd Ancient Egypt: A Social History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983. 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..."{{cite web|title=Amarna Report 3 – Introduction|url=http://www.amarnaproject.com/documents/pdf/Amarna-Reports-3/ocr/Introduction.pdf|publisher=Amarna Project, with permission by the Egyptian Study Society|accessdate=2 September 2016}}Kemp's contributions to Egyptology reinvented it as a social science.{{Cite news |last=Wilkinson |first=Toby |date=2024-06-12 |title=Barry Kemp obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/jun/12/barry-kemp-obituary#:~:text=Kemp%20was%20born%20in%20Birmingham,with%20a%20BA%20in%201962. |access-date=2025-02-28 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} 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.

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.{{London Gazette |issue=59647 |date=31 December 2010 |page=24 |supp=y }} Kemp was inspirational and a dedicated professor always adding his new ideas about Egyptian civilizations.

• {{cite book |author=Barry Kemp |title=The city of el-Amarna as a source for the study of urban society in ancient Egypt in World Archaeology 9, 123–39 |year=1977}}
• {{cite book |author=Barry Kemp |title=The character of the South Suburb at Tell el-'Amarna. Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft zu Berlin 113, 81–97 |year=1981}}
• {{cite book |author=Barry Kemp |title=Tell el-'Amarna. In H.S. Smith and R.M. Hall, ed., Ancient Centres of Egyptian Civilization, pp. 57–72 |publisher=Egyptian Education Bureau |year=1983 |location=London}}
• {{cite book |author=Barry Kemp |title=Tell el-Amarna, 4000 word entry in the Lexikon der Ägyptologie, ed. W. Helck and W. Westendorf, Band VI. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 309–19 |year=1986}}
• {{cite book |author=Barry Kemp |title=Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilisation |year=1989 |edition=1st}}
• {{cite book |author=Barry Kemp |title=Amarna from the air. Egyptian Archaeology 2, 15–17 |year=1992}}
• {{cite book |author=Barry Kemp |title=More of Amarna's city plan. Egyptian Archaeology 13, 17–18 |year=1998}}
• {{cite book |author=Barry Kemp |title=Bricks and metaphor. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 10, 335–46. A comparative essay on the theme 'Were cities built as images?' |year=2000}}
• {{cite book |author=Barry Kemp |title=100 Hieroglyphs: Think Like an Egyptian |publisher=Granta Books |year=2005 |isbn=1-86207-658-8}}
• {{cite book |author=Barry Kemp |title=Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilisation |publisher=Routledge |year=2005 |isbn=0-415-23550-2 |edition=2nd}}
• {{cite book |author=Barry Kemp |title=The Egyptian Book of the Dead |publisher=Granta Books |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-86207-913-7}}
• {{cite book |author=Barry Kemp |title=The City of Akhenaten and Nefertiti: Armana and Its People |publisher=Thames & Hudson |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-500-29120-7}}
• {{cite book |author=Barry Kemp |title=Ancient Egypt: All that matters |publisher=Quercus |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-44418620-8}}
• {{cite book |author=Barry Kemp |title=Amarna Reports, parts 1–5 |publisher=Egypt Exploration Society}}
• {{cite book |author=Barry Kemp |title=Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilisation |publisher=Routledge |year=2018 |isbn=9781351166485 |edition=3rd}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite web|url=http://www.amarnaproject.com/pages/amarna_the_place/index.shtml|title=Amarna, the Place|accessdate=31 January 2008|publisher=AmarnaProject| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20080203044915/http://www.amarnaproject.com/pages/amarna_the_place/index.shtml| archivedate= 3 February 2008 | url-status= live}}
• {{cite web|url=http://www.amarnaproject.com/downloadable_resources.shtml|title=Amarna Reports|accessdate=2 August 2016|publisher=AmarnaProject}}
• {{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7209472.stm|publisher=BBC|title=Grim secrets of Pharaoh's city|accessdate=31 January 2008 | date=25 January 2008| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20080128194926/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7209472.stm| archivedate= 28 January 2008 | url-status= live}}

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Category:1940 births

Category:2024 deaths

Category:Alumni of the University of Liverpool

Category:English Egyptologists

Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire

Category:Fellows of the British Academy

Category:Fellows of Wolfson College, Cambridge

Category:People from Birmingham, West Midlands

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