Average Aussie Egyptologist

03/09/2026

29/08/2026

Egyptian archaeological mission uncovers the tomb of Sekhentyu-Ptah, an interconnected system of burial shafts, more than 100 faience ushabtis and three

23/08/2026

"The study of childhood in historical archaeology enriches interpretations of the past, but also has the potential for contributing to the understanding of methodological and theoretical issues in archaeology. Archaeologically, children are understudied relative to both their demographic and social importance, partly because children are viewed as difficult to discern in the archaeological record. Historical archaeology, with its access to historical documents to supplement and illuminate archaeological evidence, provides an opportunity to gain a greater understanding of the ways children's daily lives in the past were expressed in historically changing types and patterns of material culture. Recent research presented in this volume contributes valuable perspectives for conceptualizing the historically changing social nature of childhood and methods for illuminating the roles of children. Case studies are designed to illustrate methodological and theoretical advances in the historical archaeology of materialized experiences, discourses, identities, places and their meanings associated with parenting and childhood.

The volume is organized into three sections devoted to case studies about 1) how childhood and parenting have been socially constructed cross culturally and temporally, 2) social ideologies of childhood in contested spaces, and 3) the relationship between children's experiences and adult expectations of childhood. Each chapter demonstrates advances in current methods or theories used in the archaeology of childhood. A final discussant, drawn from the broader field of research on the archaeology of childhood, provides a commentary on the ways the perspectives provided in the volume can be employed by researchers outside the sub-discipline of historical archaeology".

07/08/2026

New Cambridge Element, Censorship of History by Antoon De Baets, out now! Read for free for the next 2 weeks at
https://cup.org/4fTJLAB

07/08/2026

07/08/2026

27/06/2026

Congratulations to our director, Peter Der Manuelian, and Harvard archaeology professor Jason Ur on winning new Harvard funding for this ambitious project!

Their groundbreaking initiative—along with two colleagues—is transforming Harvard’s Giza Project The Giza Project at Harvard University into an active AI Innovation Hub, which will include revolutionary natural language processing of 6,500 pages of unique handwritten Arabic excavation diaries (1913-1947). By creating a "digital twin" of the Giza Pyramids and establishing ethical guidelines for AI reconstruction, this project is shaping the future of international AI research and development.

Read the full story below to see how they are turning an academic archive into a hub for global innovation:
https://tinyurl.com/FrontiersofInnovation

Read about all of the winners in the Gazette:
https://tinyurl.com/FrontiersInnovationGazette

24/06/2026

We are delighted to share that the Tutankhamun Spatial Archive has been shortlisted as a finalist for the 2026 Digital Preservation Awards in the category of The National Archives (UK) Award for Safeguarding the Digital Legacy. (https://www.dpconline.org/events/digital-preservation-awards/the-finalists-award-for-safeguarding-the-digital-legacy)

Led by the Griffith Institute, University of Oxford, and developed in collaboration with Agile Collective (https://agile.coop/), the Tutankhamun Spatial Archive reimagines one of the world's most important archaeological archives for the digital age. Through a new relational database structure, enhanced metadata, and improved search and discovery tools, the project connects photographs, object cards, diaries, plans, conservation records, and correspondence created during the excavation of Tutankhamun's tomb.
The award recognises projects that apply digital preservation tools and principles to protect and sustain access to at-risk digital heritage. We are honoured to be recognised alongside the other outstanding finalists and look forward to meeting the judges in July.

Explore the archive: https://tutankhamun.griffith.ox.ac.uk/