Associated Products
The Cemeteries of Amarna Phase 2 (Article)Title: The Cemeteries of Amarna Phase 2
Author: Gretchen R. Dabbs
Author: Anna Stevens
Abstract: A summary of the archaeology and bioarchaeology phases of the first fiscal year of the work at Amarna.
Year: 2015
Primary URL:
http://www.amarnatrust.com/horizon-newsletter-16.pdfPrimary URL Description: Link from the Amarna Project website
Access Model: Open access digitally; subscription membership
Format: Magazine
Periodical Title: Horizon
Publisher: The Amarna Project and Amarna Trust
The presence of malaria among the non-royal of the North Tombs Cemetery (Article)Title: The presence of malaria among the non-royal of the North Tombs Cemetery
Author: Jerome C. Rose
Author: Gretchen R. Dabbs
Abstract: Preliminary findings on the presence of malaria in the ancient city.
Year: 2015
Primary URL:
http://www.amarnatrust.com/horizon-newsletter-16.pdfPrimary URL Description: Amarna Project website
Access Model: Open access digitally; subscription membership
Format: Magazine
Periodical Title: Horizon
Publisher: The Amarna Project and Amarna Trust
Tell el-Amarna, 2014-15 (Article)Title: Tell el-Amarna, 2014-15
Author: Stevens, Anna
Author: Dabbs, Gretchen
Author: Wetzel, Melinda
Author: Shepperson, Mary
Abstract: This article presents and summarizes the activities of the Amarna Project during 2014-15. It includes descriptions of excavation activities at the Great Aten Temple, conservation work at Kom el-Nana, excavation activities at the North Tombs Cemeteries, and information on the skeletal analysis of the North Tombs Cemeteries skeletons.
Year: 2016
Primary URL:
http://www.ees.ac.uk/publications/journal-egyptian-archaeology.htmlPrimary URL Description: Website of the Egypt Exploration Society, the publisher of the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology.
Access Model: subscription for 1 year, open access afterwards
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Journal of Egyptian Archaeology
Publisher: Egypt Exploration Society
Akhenaten's people: excavating the lost cemeteries of Amarna (Article)Title: Akhenaten's people: excavating the lost cemeteries of Amarna
Author: Stevens, Anna
Author: Dabbs, Gretchen
Author: Rose, Jerome
Abstract: This is a summary of the current knowledge of the Amarna Cemeteries project. It is intended for a lay audience
Year: 2016
Primary URL: www.world-archaeology.com
Primary URL Description: World Archaeology
Access Model: subscription
Format: Magazine
Periodical Title: Current World Archaeology
Publisher: Current World Archaeology
Death and the city: The cemeteries of Amarna in their urban context (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: Death and the city: The cemeteries of Amarna in their urban context
Abstract: none available
Author: Anna Stevens
Date: 12/20/2016
Location: University of Pisa, Italy
The non-elite people of Amarna: The city of Akhenaten and Nefertiti (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: The non-elite people of Amarna: The city of Akhenaten and Nefertiti
Abstract: none available
Author: Gretchen R. Dabbs
Date: 07/12/2017
Location: Center for American Archaeology, Kampsville, IL
Did children build the ancient Egyptian city of Amarna? (Blog Post)Title: Did children build the ancient Egyptian city of Amarna?
Author: Marry Shepperson
Abstract: none available
Date: 06/06/2017
Primary URL:
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/jun/06/did-children-build-the-ancient-egyptian-city-of-armana-Primary URL Description: British newspaper
Blog Title: Did children build the ancient Egyptian city of Amarna?
Website: The Guardian newspaper
Die Kindersklaven des Pharao (Blog Post)Title: Die Kindersklaven des Pharao
Author: Angelika Franz
Abstract: none available
Date: 09/03/17
Primary URL:
https://nzzas.nzz.ch/wissen/die-kindersklaven-des-groessenwahnsinnigen-pharaos-ld.1313646?reduced=truePrimary URL Description: I don't know, I don't read German.
Website: Neue Zurcher Zeitung am Sonntag (Switzerland)
Report on the October 2015 skeletal analysis of the North Tombs Cemetery Project (Article)Title: Report on the October 2015 skeletal analysis of the North Tombs Cemetery Project
Author: Gretchen R. Dabbs
Author: Jerome C. Rose
Abstract: none available
Year: 2016
Primary URL:
https://www.ees.ac.uk/publicationsPrimary URL Description: website for the Egyptian Exploration Society
Access Model: subscription only 1 year, open access afterwards
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Journal of Egyptian Archaeology
Publisher: Egyptian Exploration Society
Death and the city: The cemeteries of Amarna in their urban context (Article)Title: Death and the city: The cemeteries of Amarna in their urban context
Author: Anna K. Stevens
Abstract: Burial grounds are increasingly being considered as components of lived urban environments in the past. This paper considers how the ancient Egyptian city of Akhetaten, built by king Akhenaten (c. 1349–1332 bc), was constructed and experienced as a space inhabited both by the living and the dead. Drawing upon results from ongoing excavations at the burial grounds of the general population, it considers how the archaeological record of the settlement and its cemeteries segue and explores how the nature of burial landscapes and the need to maintain reflexive relationships between the living and the dead in the midst of a changing religious milieu contributed to the unique character of Akhetaten as a city. It asks what kind of city Akhetaten was, and what it was like to live through the Amarna period.
Year: 2018
Primary URL:
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/cambridge-archaeological-journal/article/death-and-the-city-the-cemeteries-of-amarna-in-their-urban-context/DBD79DE7272127369D22A805525D3D08Primary URL Description: Cambridge University Press homepage
Access Model: subscription
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Cambridge Archaeological Journal
Publisher: Cambridge University
Excavating the Amarna Cemeteries: life and death in Akhenaten’s Egypt. (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: Excavating the Amarna Cemeteries: life and death in Akhenaten’s Egypt.
Abstract: Presentation of the current state of the excavations at Amarna cemeteries and the health of the non-elites.
Author: Gretchen Dabbs
Author: Anna Stevens
Date: 12/7/17
Location: Amarna Visitors Center
We Were Wrong! Preliminary Results from the North Tombs Cemetery at Tell-el Amarna. (Conference Paper/Presentation)Title: We Were Wrong! Preliminary Results from the North Tombs Cemetery at Tell-el Amarna.
Author: Gretchen Dabbs
Abstract: Presentation of the current state of knowledge of the life histories of Amarna non-elite individuals.
Date: 11/4/17
Conference Name: Bioarchaeology and Forensic Anthropology Association
Distinguishing skeletal lesions of malaria from comorbidities and coexisting metabolic conditions at Amarna, Egypt (Conference Paper/Presentation)Title: Distinguishing skeletal lesions of malaria from comorbidities and coexisting metabolic conditions at Amarna, Egypt
Author: Nicole Smith-Guzman
Author: Gretchen Dabbs
Author: Heidi Davis
Author: Ashley Shidner
Abstract: Identification of skeletal lesions of malaria as differentiated from scurvy, anemia, and rickets.
Date: 4/13/18
Conference Name: American Association of Physical Anthropologists
Tell el-Amarna, Spring 2017 (Article)Title: Tell el-Amarna, Spring 2017
Author: Gretchen Dabbs
Author: Anna Stevens
Abstract: Preliminary reporting of the Spring 2017 excavation season and analysis of skeletal remains during 2016/2017 granting period.
Year: 2018
Access Model: Subscription
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Journal of Egyptian Archaeology
Publisher: Journal of Egyptian Archaeology
From representation to reality: Ancient Egyptian wax head cones from Amarna (Article)Title: From representation to reality: Ancient Egyptian wax head cones from Amarna
Author: Anna Stevens
Author: Corina Rogge
Author: Jolanda Bos
Author: Gretchen Dabbs
Abstract: Images of ancient Egyptians wearing distinctive, cone-shaped objects on their heads have, in the absence of physical examples, long elicited scholarly debate. Did people wear these cones, or were they a purely iconographic device? What was their function and meaning? Recent excavations at the Amarna cemeteries now provide the first material examples of head cones. Spectroscopic analyses indicate that their primary constituent is a biological wax, and not fat or incense, as sometimes speculated. We tentatively suggest that the Amarna cones were symbols meant to enhance the rebirth or personal fertility of the deceased in the afterlife.
Year: 2019
Primary URL:
https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2019.175Primary URL Description: DOI address on publisher's website
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Antiquity
Publisher: Antiquity Trust
Tell el-Amarna, autumn 2017 and spring 2018 (Article)Title: Tell el-Amarna, autumn 2017 and spring 2018
Author: Anna Stevens
Author: Gretchen Dabbs
Author: Corina Rogge
Author: Pamela Rose
Author: Amandine Merat
Author: Jolanda Bos
Author: Jacquelyn Williamson
Author: Anna Garnett
Author: Lucy Skinner
Author: Julie Dawson
Author: Anders Bettum
Author: Alan Clapham
Author: Gemma Tully
Abstract: Fieldwork at Amarna in autumn 2017 and spring 2018 included excavation at a previously uninvestigated pit-grave cemetery, the North Cliffs Cemetery, on the low desert near the North Tombs. Initial results suggest the burials here are closer in character to those at the South Tombs Cemetery (excavated 2006–13) than at the North Tombs Cemetery (excavated 2015, 2017). Several post-excavation projects continued on materials from the North and South Tombs Cemeteries, including skeletal remains, coffins, hair, textiles, head cones, pottery and botanical materials, in addition to the ongoing recording of Kom el-Nana relief fragments and pottery from the Stone Village. A new site management programme, in partnership with the Ministry of Antiquities, was also launched.
Year: 2018
Primary URL:
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0307513319856824Primary URL Description: SAGE online
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Journal of Egyptian Archaeology
Publisher: Egypt Exploration Society
The northern cemeteries: Community ties at Amarna (Article)Title: The northern cemeteries: Community ties at Amarna
Author: Anna Stevens
Author: Gretchen Dabbs
Abstract: Since 2005, the Amarna Project has been studying the non-elite cemeteries of ancient
Amarna. 2018 was a busy year, with fieldwork at two previously unexcavated burial grounds
at the northern end of the site. Anna Stevens (University of Cambridge/Monash University)
and Gretchen Dabbs (Southern Illinois University) report on the work, which was funded by a
grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Year: 2019
Primary URL:
http://www.amarnaproject.com/documents/pdf/horizon-newsletter-20.pdfPrimary URL Description: Amarna Project website
Access Model: Open access
Format: Other
Periodical Title: Horizon: The Amarna Project and Amarna Trust Newsletter
Publisher: Amarna Project and Amarna Trust
City, Cemetery and Community at Amarna (Conference Paper/Presentation)Title: City, Cemetery and Community at Amarna
Author: Anna Stevens
Abstract: The study of Amarna’s non-elite cemeteries provides an extraordinary opportunity to explore the social dimensions of ancient Akhetaten. While there is generally little variation in approach to burial across individual graves, at a broader level – between cemeteries, with respect of natural and urban landscapes, and with communities in mind – there exists considerable potential for social analysis. Six cemeteries for the general population of Akhetaten are known: huge ‘public’ cemeteries and smaller ‘community’ burial grounds co-existed, and varied in their relationships to landscape and to living communities, and subtle differences in approach to burial can be seen across them. One remarkable burial ground near the North Tombs contains up to 5,000 individuals, most under the age of c. 25, who were perhaps from labourers’ communities, living separately. If so, they represent a portion of Egyptian society largely unattested archaeologically at Amarna or elsewhere: a hidden urban community.
This paper forms part of an ongoing exercise in repositioning the Amarna cemeteries within their lived urban landscape. It will explore how cemetery research helps to make Amarna’s urban communities visible, and the tensions between ‘the city’ and the communities that served it.
Date: 9.19.19
Conference Name: British Museum Annual Egyptological Colloquium: Amarna - The Lived City
Textiles for the living and the dead: production, use and reuse in daily life and beyond. (Conference Paper/Presentation)Title: Textiles for the living and the dead: production, use and reuse in daily life and beyond.
Author: Amandine Merat
Abstract: Excavations conducted in the Main City in the 1920s, the Workmen’s Village in the 1970-80s and, since 2006, the Stone Village and four cemeteries for non-elite people, yielded thousands of fragments of textiles, testifying to the importance of the industry at Amarna, both in day to day life and in preparations for the afterlife. The study of the material excavated in the cemeteries, instigated in 2017, aims to better understand burial practice for non-elite people, by looking at the type of fabrics used and their roles in the processes of wrapping and mummification, if at all. Comparisons with textiles excavated in living areas of the city help to understand whether or not the same cloths were produced and used by the living and for the dead. In this paper, results of the study of the South Tomb Cemetery, the North Tomb Cemetery, the Stone Village and the North Cliff Cemetery textiles, including wrapping material and goods, will be presented, together with some conclusions concerning their possible way of production, use or reuse in burial context, in the light of items produced and found in the Workmen Village and the Main City.
Date: 9.19.19
Conference Name: British Museum Annual Egyptological Colloquium: Amarna - The Lived City
Was there an epidemic at Amarna? (Conference Paper/Presentation)Title: Was there an epidemic at Amarna?
Author: Anna Stevens
Abstract: A tantalizing question shadows ancient Amarna, the city built by Egypt’s monotheistic king Akhenaten in the late 14th century BCE: did epidemic disease sweep through the ancient city? The suggestion is not without basis. The Amarna period coincides broadly with one of the most famous ancient references to an outbreak of disease, recorded in texts from the land of the Hittites in Anatolia, modern-day Turkey. The texts describe the Hittite capital as having been ravaged by disease, which is said to have been brought by captured Egyptian prisoners. This seminar will explore the evidence for an epidemic in the Amarna period, with particular focus on the ongoing excavation of the non-elite cemeteries of Amarna.
Date: 4.12.19
Conference Name: Centre for Ancient Cultures Seminar Series, Monash University, Melbourne
Life under Akhenaten. Excavating the cemeteries of Amarna. (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: Life under Akhenaten. Excavating the cemeteries of Amarna.
Abstract: none
Author: Anna Stevens
Date: 4.5.19
Location: Egyptology Society of Victoria, Monash University, Melbourne
The Northern Cemeteries of Amarna (Web Resource)Title: The Northern Cemeteries of Amarna
Author: Anna Stevens
Author: Gretchen Dabbs
Abstract: In 2005, the Amarna Project began a long-term study of the cemeteries of Amarna, with the goal of better understanding the health, life experiences and beliefs of the people of Akhetaten through an integrated study of human remains and burial practices. From 2005 to 2013, fieldwork focussed upon the largest of the city’s non-elite burial grounds, the South Tombs Cemetery, located in a long wadi adjacent to the southern group of officials’ tombs. In Spring 2015, a second phase of the cemeteries project began, with a shift in focus to the north end of the Amarna bay, where there are a several additional non-elite burial grounds near the North Tombs . The largest, which probably includes several thousand interments, occupies a broad wadi between North Tombs 2 and 3 (see image above). There is a smaller cemetery at the base of the cliffs adjacent to the tomb of Panehesy (no. 6) and another in the low desert some 700 m to the west of this.
The study of the northern cemeteries is funded primarily by a National Endowment of the Humanities Research Grant, awarded to Southern Illinois University in partnership with the Amarna Project.
Year: 2015
Primary URL:
http://www.amarnaproject.com/pages/recent_projects/excavation/northern_cemeteries/Primary URL Description: Section on the Amarna Project website (www.amarnaproject.com) dedicated to Open Access illustrated preliminary reports on the 2015–18 excavations at the northern cemeteries of Amarna.
A Preliminary Assessment of the Non-Elite Individuals of the North Tombs Cemetery at Tell el-Amarna, Egypt. (Article)Title: A Preliminary Assessment of the Non-Elite Individuals of the North Tombs Cemetery at Tell el-Amarna, Egypt.
Author: Dabbs, Gretchen R
Abstract: This article presents preliminary results of the skeletal analysis of the current excavated sample from the 18th Dynasty North Tombs Cemetery at Tell el-Amarna, Egypt (n=252). Analysis shows the skeletal sample to be demographically restricted, with 93.7% of the sample being 7-25 years old at the time of death. Additionally, the sample is predominantly female, with adult females outnumbering adult males by a margin of 3.2:1. High frequencies of linear enamel hypoplasias (73.2% of individuals) and low adult stature (female mean=153.3cm; male mean=160.8cm) suggest heavy stressor loads began early in life and were not ameliorated over time. Despite the overall young age of the sample, degenerative joint disease is prevalent, with 23.3% of individuals exhibiting DJD in a non-vertebral joint and 14.4% exhibiting bony change in the vertebral column. The youngest examples of DJD manifest in multiple 6-7 year old individuals. The presence of DJD in the occipital condyles (adults 22.5%; subadults 9.1%) and in the joints of the feet (adults 14.7%; subadults 5.5%) suggest carrying heavy loads, likely on the head, was a habitual activity. This interpretation is supported by high frequencies of spinal trauma, including compression fractures (adults 31.4%; subadults 15.6%), spondylolysis (adults 6.0%; subadults 2.5%), and Schmorl’s nodes (adults 23.3%; subadults 4.1%). Coupled with the demonstrable lack of care for the dead exhibited in the burial practices, these physical findings suggest the NTC skeletal sample represents an isolated workforce that was likely participating in ancillary activities related to stone quarrying in the desert cliffs surrounding the city.
Year: 2019
Primary URL:
http://journals.upress.ufl.edu/bioarchaeologyPrimary URL Description: academic journal
Access Model: subscription
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Bioarchaeology International
Publisher: University of Flordia Press
The Experience of Urban Life as told through Human Skeletal Remains: The bioarchaeology of Amarna’s non-elite cemeteries. (Conference Paper/Presentation)Title: The Experience of Urban Life as told through Human Skeletal Remains: The bioarchaeology of Amarna’s non-elite cemeteries.
Author: Dabbs, Gretchen R
Abstract: Bioarchaeological analysis of the human skeletal remains from the non-elite cemeteries of Amarna reflects a lived experience in diametric opposition to ideal lives often predicted based on representations of overflowing offering tables. The Amarna Cemeteries project is a long-term, interdisciplinary project that seeks to utilize multiple lines of investigation to more fully understand the lives of the non-elite individuals buried in five cemeteries identified thus far. To date, human skeletal remains have been analyzed from two of these cemeteries, the South Tombs Cemetery (STC; n=430; excavated 2005-2013) and the North Tombs Cemetery (NTC; n=194, excavated 2015-2017). The two cemeteries differ in general demographic characteristic. The STC reflects a normal ancient burial population, with representation of all age and sex groups in frequencies typical for bioarchaeological samples. The NTC demography is much more restricted, with the vast majority of the individuals being young, 7-25 years old, and predominantly female. Both of the cemeteries, however, reveal urban life was extremely difficult for the non-elite residents of Akhetaten. Overwhelmingly, the skeletal remains show evidence of heavy workloads beginning early in life, dietary deficiency, and high frequency of infectious disease. The cemetery profiles do not reflect the often speculated epidemic disease.
Date: 09/19/19
Primary URL:
https://www.britishmuseum.org/our-work/departments/egypt-and-sudan/egyptological-lectures-and-colloquiaPrimary URL Description: British Museum website
Conference Name: British Museum Egyptology Colloquium
Even more unexpected results from a capital city: Preliminary results from the North Tombs Cemetery at Tell el-Amarna. (Conference Paper/Presentation)Title: Even more unexpected results from a capital city: Preliminary results from the North Tombs Cemetery at Tell el-Amarna.
Author: Dabbs, Gretchen R
Abstract: The North Tombs Cemetery (NTC; excavated 2015-2017) at Tell el-Amarna sits in a wadi along the northeast margin of the cliffs surrounding the ancient capital city of Akhetaten and was in use during the brief Amarna Period (c. 1349-1332 BCE). Initial expectations were that this cemetery would be similar to the previously studied South Tombs Cemetery (STC), reflecting the larger population of the city. The STC has demonstrated heavy workloads, poor nutrition, and rampant infectious disease were common for the non-elite at Akhetaten. Ongoing bioarchaeological analysis of the NTC (current n=194) subverts initial expectations and suggests a specialized, restricted labor force of young, predominantly female individuals. 94% of the sample is estimated to be 7-25 years old and adult females outnumber adult males by a margin of 3.5:1. This young workers’ cemetery reflects heavy labor very early in life and potentially more intensively than present in the STC. Pathological lesions identified in the NTC include degenerative joint disease (DJD) of the spine (8%) and limb joints (15%), fractures of the spine (31%), evidence of nutritional deficiency (53%), and infectious disease (94%). Comparisons between the rates of trauma suggest the NTC subadults experienced up to eight times more fractures than STC counterparts, with the youngest spinal compression fractures occurring as early as six years old. The presence of spinal and limb DJD in individuals as young as 12 years old lends further support to the interpretation of the NTC as a specialized, highly biologically taxed workforce.
Date: 01/14/19
Primary URL:
https://www.bae2019.org/Primary URL Description: conference website
Conference Name: Bioarchaeology of Ancient Egypt
Amarna (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: Amarna
Abstract: Presentation to 5-6th grave students on the city of Amarna and the Northern Cemeteries as part of a STEM camp.
Author: Dabbs, Gretchen R
Date: 6/11/19
Location: Southern Illinois University
Primary URL: www.siu.edu
Primary URL Description: university website
Amarna (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: Amarna
Abstract: Presentation to 7-8th grade students about Amarna and the Northern Cemeteries project as part of a STEM camp
Author: Dabbs, Gretchen R
Date: 6/18/2019
Location: Southern Illinois University
Primary URL: www.siu.edu
Primary URL Description: university website
Excavating Amarna’s cemeteries: Life and death in Akhenaten’s Egypt. (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: Excavating Amarna’s cemeteries: Life and death in Akhenaten’s Egypt.
Abstract: Brief overview of the excavation and analysis of the cemeteries at Amarna.
Author: Dabbs, Gretchen R
Date: 10/17/18
Location: Southern Illinois Learning in Retirement, Carbondale, Illinois
Akhenaten and Nefertiti: the health and wellbeing of their subjects explored. (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: Akhenaten and Nefertiti: the health and wellbeing of their subjects explored.
Abstract: Overview of the health and nutrition of the residents of Amarna
Author: Rose, Jerome C.
Date: 3/12/18
Location: University of Arkansas Retirement Association, Fayetteville, AR
The Lost Cemeteries of Tell el-Amarna: non-elite life at the birthplace of King Tut (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: The Lost Cemeteries of Tell el-Amarna: non-elite life at the birthplace of King Tut
Abstract: Analysis of King Tut’s mummy shows he was sickly and frail, with numerous congenital birth defects, traumatic injuries, and diseases. How different was he, the future king, from other individuals born in the same place and time? The bioarchaeological study of the skeletal remains of non-elite individuals from the ancient Egyptian city of Akhetaten strives to answer this, and other questions, about the lives of the non-elites in Egypt during the Amarna Period (c. 1350BCE), a short 15-20 year period of possible upheaval during which the Pharaoh Akhenaten shifted the focus of the state religion from a pantheon of gods to a single solar deity, the Aten. Akhenaten’s new capital city, built to venerate the Aten in a place no other god had previously been worshiped was a thriving metropolis of 50,000 people. The remains of this city represent the single best preserved site in Egypt that includes both settlement areas and cemeteries, allowing integration of multiple lines of evidence to understand more fully the lives of the non-elite, outside of the lens of written sources, which were often skewed toward the viewpoints and needs of the elites and royals.
Author: Dabbs, Gretchen R
Date: 02/27/2020
Location: Science Center of Southern Illinois (Carbondale, IL)
Primary URL:
https://sciencecentersi.com/science-cafe/Primary URL Description: URL for the Southern Illinois Science Center showing Science Cafe Lecture