"The Merneptah Sarcophagi Restoration Project."

The Egyptian pharaoh, Merneptah (1212-1202 BC), was the 13th son of Ramses the Great of the 19th Dynasty.  His famous victory stela contains the first mention of Israel in Egyptian records. Although he only ruled 10 years, the burial of Merneptah was equipped with a unique feature - four stone sarcophagi, three of granite and one of travertine. These coffins were damaged and parts were removed after the tomb was robbed.  Today, all that remains are the mostly intact lids and numerous, scattered fragments of the richly decorated coffin boxes.

Edwin Brock, a Canadian archaeologist who has worked in Egypt for nearly 30 years, will detail his efforts, since 1982, to collect, document, and reconstruct the fragments of Merneptah's original sarcophagi. One of the highlights of this illustrated presentation will be Brock's evidence for the method of lowering the massive granite sarcophagi into the tomb and how the sarcophagi were later destroyed.

Lecture: 7:00 p.m.

Reception: 6:15 p.m.

Location: University Center, Fountain View Suite (room 350)
The University of Memphis Campus

The lecture and reception are
FREE and Open to the Public


Pay parking is available in the Zach Curlin Garage (PG-2 #3 on the parking map).


This lecture is co-sponsored by the Memphis Chapter of the American Research Center in Egypt. To learn more about ARCE, click here.

Mr. Edwin Brock is an internationally known Egyptologist and lecturer. He is a Research Associate in the Department of World Cultures at the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto (Canada). He was co-director of the Amenmesse Tomb Project, working with the University of Memphis when they discovered the newest tomb in the Valley of the Kings, KV 63. He has excavated in the tomb of Merneptah (KV8), and has worked on reconstructing the sarcophagi of Merneptah since 1982. Numerous projects in Egypt have benefited from his expertise, including the Theban Mapping Project, the Valley of the Kings Research Group, the Wadi Tumilat Project, and the Dakhlah Oasis Project. Recently, Brock helped prepare the American Research Center in Egypt's publication of  finds from the Luxor Dewatering Project and was a senior archaeologist on Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities archaeological monitoring team for the Salvation of Karnak and Luxor Temples project.

Mr. Brock holds a graduate degree from the University of Toronto (Canada). He has lived in Egypt since 1983 and is a past director of the Canadian Institute in Egypt. Among the publications Mr. Brock has produced are scholarly articles on the coffins of Merneptah and Ramses IV, objects and wall decoration from the Tomb of the Sons of Ramses II (KV 5), and pottery and other finds from various tombs in the the Valley of the Kings. He has also written guidebooks for the temples of Abydos  (2002) and Abu Simbel (2003).

For more information about Edwin Brock, visit his Wikipedia page at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_C._Brock