Josef W. Wegner
{{Short description|American Egyptologist, archaeologist and professor}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Josef William Wegner
| image =
| alma mater = University of Pennsylvania
| occupation = Professor of Egyptian Archaeology at the University of Pennsylvania
}}
Josef William Wegner (born October 1967) is an American Egyptologist, archaeologist{{cite news|url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/11/081114-pyramid-room_2.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081204033900/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/11/081114-pyramid-room_2.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 4, 2008|title=Great Pyramid Mystery to Be Solved by Hidden Room?|date=March 24, 2010|publisher=National Geographic|access-date=June 18, 2010}} and Professor{{Cite web |title=Josef W. Wegner {{!}} Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations |url=https://nelc.sas.upenn.edu/people/josef-wegner |access-date=2022-11-14 |website=nelc.sas.upenn.edu}} in Egyptology at the department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations of the University of Pennsylvania,{{cite news|url=http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2007/10/23/student-dies-in-hiking-accident-a/|title=Student Dies in Hiking Accident|date=October 23, 2007|work=Harvard Crimson|access-date=June 18, 2010}} where he obtained his Ph.D. degree in Egyptology in 1996. He specializes in Egyptian Middle Kingdom archaeology (circa 2050-1650BCE).{{Cite web |title=Josef W. Wegner {{!}} Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations |url=https://nelc.sas.upenn.edu/people/josef-wegner |access-date=2022-10-10 |website=nelc.sas.upenn.edu}} His father is the astrophysicist, Gary A. Wegner.
He is noted for his continued research at Abydos, where he excavated the tomb of pharaoh Sobekhotep IV{{cite journal|last1=Wegner|first1=J.|first2=K.|last2=Cahail|title=Royal Funerary Equipment of a King Sobekhotep at South Abydos: Evidence for the Tombs of Sobekhotep IV and Neferhotep I?|journal=JARCE|volume=15|year=2015}}
in 2013 and discovered that of Pharaoh Seneb Kay in 2014.[http://luxortimesmagazine.blogspot.nl/2014/01/abydos-dynasty-tomb-discovered.html Discovery of the tomb and nomen of the pharaoh] on the Luxor Times.{{cite web |title=Mystery pharaoh and his tomb identified in Egypt |website=NBC News |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230624173444/https://www.nbcnews.com/science/mystery-pharaoh-his-tomb-identified-egypt-2D11934339 |archive-date=2023-06-24 |url-status=live |url=http://www.nbcnews.com/science/mystery-pharaoh-his-tomb-identified-egypt-2D11934339}} Later, he excavated an entire royal necropolis dating to the Second Intermediate Period, possibly belonging to kings of the Theban sixteenth dynasty or witnessing the existence of the Abydos dynasty.{{cite journal|first=Josef W.|last=Wegner|author-link=Josef W. Wegner |year=2015|title=A royal necropolis at south Abydos: New Light on Egypt's Second Intermediate Period|journal=Near Eastern Archaeology|pages=69–70|volume=78|issue=2|doi=10.5615/neareastarch.78.2.0068|s2cid=163519900}} Wegner published an analysis of the Sunshade Chapel of Meritaten from the House-of-Waenre of Akhenaten in a university museum monograph that was abstracted in 2018.{{Cite book | url=https://www.academia.edu/36967232 | title=The Sunshade Chapel of Meritaten from the House-of-Waenre of Akhenaten}} His research has been funded by "the American Research Center in Egypt, the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Geographic Society, [and the] American Philosophical Society."{{Cite web |title=Josef W. Wegner {{!}} Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations |url=https://nelc.sas.upenn.edu/people/josef-wegner |access-date=2022-10-10 |website=nelc.sas.upenn.edu}}
Career
Wegner was raised in New Hampshire, but he regularly traveled to the nearby Penn Museum to admire its expansive Egyptian collections as a child. He attended the University of Pennsylvania as an undergraduate student, graduating with a double major in Anthropology and Egyptology in 1989. He returned to Penn for his graduate degree, completing his Ph.D in 1996 with a dissertation on the formation of the Osiris cult in Abydos region during the Middle Kingdom (circa 2000-1600 BCE).{{Cite web |title=Josef W. Wegner {{!}} Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations |url=https://nelc.sas.upenn.edu/people/josef-wegner |access-date=2022-11-23 |website=nelc.sas.upenn.edu}} His excavation project in South Abydos was the first significant project in the region in nearly a century. In 2002, Wegner was appointed Associate Curator in the Egyptian division at the Penn Museum.{{Cite journal |last=Olszewski |first=Deborah |title=Meet the Curators: Josef Wegner |url=https://www.penn.museum/documents/publications/expedition/PDFs/47-2/Meet%20the%20Curators.pdf |journal=Expedition Magazine |volume=47 |issue=2 |pages=4–5 |via=Penn Museum |access-date=2022-11-23 |archive-date=2016-03-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160314221533/http://www.penn.museum/documents/publications/expedition/PDFs/47-2/Meet%20the%20Curators.pdf |url-status=dead }} He is currently a Professor of Egyptian Archaeology at the University of Pennsylvania's Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations department and Curator at the Penn Museum. His recent fieldwork has focused on topics such as Pharaoh Senwosret III's burial site and cult settlement in South Abydos,{{Cite web |title=Josef W. Wegner {{!}} Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations |url=https://nelc.sas.upenn.edu/people/josef-wegner |access-date=2022-11-23 |website=nelc.sas.upenn.edu}} including a 2021 paper published by the Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt entitled, "A Late Middle Kingdom Temple Bakery at South Abydos."{{Cite journal |last=Wegner |first=Josef |date=2021 |title=A Late Middle Kingdom Temple Bakery at South Abydos |url=https://lockwoodonlinejournals.com/index.php/jarce/article/view/1982 |journal=Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt |volume=57 |issue=1 |pages=287–328 |via=Lockwood Online Journals}}
Selected works
- The mortuary complex of Senwosret III : a study of Middle Kingdom state activity and the cult of Osiris at Abydos Ph.D. thesis, (1996) {{oclc|857223788}}
- Searching for Ancient Egypt (author David P. Silverman), contributor (1997) {{ISBN|1-931707-36-7}}
- Akhenaten and Tutankhamun : Revolution and Restoration, coauthor (2006) {{isbn|978-1-93-170790-9}}
- The Mortuary Temple of Senwosret III at Abydos (2007) {{ISBN|0-9740025-4-2}}
- Archaism and Innovation, coauthor (2009) {{ISBN|0-9802065-1-0}}
- The Sphinx That Traveled to Philadelphia : The Story of the Colossal Sphinx of Ramses the Great in the Penn Museum, coauthor (2015) {{isbn|978-1-93-453677-3}}
- The Sunshade Chapel of Meritaten from the House-of-Waenre of Akhenaten : Penn Museum E16230, (2017) {{isbn|978-1-93-453687-2}}
- King Seneb-Kay's Tomb and the Necropolis of a Lost Dynasty at Abydos, coauthor (2021) ISBN 978-1-94-905710-2
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://nelc.sas.upenn.edu/people/josef-wegner University of Pennsylvania profile]
- [http://www.sas.upenn.edu/aamw/faculty/#Wegner Faculty Profile] at UPenn's Graduate Group in the Art and Archaeology of the Mediterranean World
- [http://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/meet-the-curators-josef-wegner/ Meet the curators]
- [https://upenn.academia.edu/JosefWegner Papers]
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H33c9gAqMMQ Josef Wegner | The Pharoaohs of Anubis-Mountain, 28 October 2015, YouTube]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wegner, Josef}}