The Future of Egyptology

‘Monica Hanna has been leading the charge against the looting of ancient sites across the country' - National Geographic

A firebrand Egyptologist presents her brilliantly argued, unexpected, and deeply rewarding journey into the future – via ancient history.

Think of Ancient Egypt, and you’re likely to think of hieroglyphic-covered tombs being unsealed by Victorian explorers, revealing ‘wonderful things’ – as Howard Carter famously remarked on seeing Tutankhamun’s treasures for the first time. But how did the practice known as ‘Egyptology’ become the domain of wealthy Europeans? And what can be done in future to give agency back to the country where it all began?

Dr. Hanna has spent her career monitoring and trying to disrupt the flow of Ancient Egyptian antiquities out of her home country – in the past, she has even directly confronted armed graverobbers.

In The Future of Egyptology, she presents a broad and generous vision of Egyptology as it could and should be: a subject not only concerned with the glitz and glamour of the Pharaohs, but with connecting the ancient world with the Egypt of today – as well as reclaiming its treasures.

Dr. Hanna argues that only by disentangling Egyptology from its problematic past of looting, racism, and Euro-centric thinking can the subject truly find a way forward. The Future of Egyptology is a brilliantly argued, unexpected, and deeply rewarding journey into the future – via ancient history.

Dr. Monica Hanna is the Dean of the College of Archaeology and Cultural Heritage at the Arab Academy for Science, Technology, and Maritime Transport. She set up the Egypt’s Heritage Taskforce in the wake of the Arab Spring, and was recognised in 2014 for her work by SAFE (Saving Antiquities For Everyone).

In 2020, she was part of a group opposing the Egyptian authorities’ relocation of sphinxes to Tahrir Square, and Menkaure's pyramid casing project. More recently, she has continued to speak out against the inherent colonialism in Egyptology by calling for the restitution of several objects to Egypt, such as the Rosetta Stone and the Bust of Nefertiti.

She lives in Cairo.