Kent R. Weeks
The Theban Mapping Project
Dr. Weeks' work on the Theban Mapping Project has been some of the most influential work in Egyptology. Visit the Theban Mapping Project website.
Employment and Other Positions
Since 2006 Professor Emeritus of Egyptology, American University in Cairo
1988-2006 Professor of Egyptology, American University in Cairo
Since 1978 Director, Theban Mapping Project
1993-95 Chairman, Egyptology and Social Sciences, American University in Cairo
1986-89 Director, U.C. Education Abroad Program in Cairo
1979-1988 Curator, Egyptian Archaeology, Lowie Museum of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley
1978-88 Associate Professor of Egyptian Archaeology, University of California, Berkeley
1977 Assistant Professor of Egyptian Archaeology, University of California, Berkeley;
1974-77 Field Director of the Epigraphic and Architectural Survey of the Oriental Institute, The University of Chicago in Luxor, Egypt. Assistant Professor of Egyptology, Department of Near Eastern Studies, University of Chicago; Adjunct Professor of Egyptian Archaeology in the American University in Cairo
1972-74 Assistant Professor of Anthropology, then Associate Professor (1972) and Chairman of the Department of Anthropology, American University in Cairo
1970-72 Assistant Curator, Department of Egyptian Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of History, Queens College, City University of New York
1969 Field Director, Hierakonpolis Expedition of the American Museum of Natural History; Ad Interim Director, American Research Center in Egypt, Inc.
1968 Assistant Director, University of Michigan Dental and Anthropological Survey of Egyptian and Egyptian Nubia
1966 Assistant Director, American Research Center Expedition in Egyptian Nubia
1965 Chief Archaeologist, American Research Center Nubian Expedition
1964 Archaeologist, New York University Mendes Expedition
1963 Chief Archaeologist, Pennsylvania-Yale Egyptian Expedition
1962 Curator and Archaeologist, Washington State Historical Parks Commission
1961 Assistant, University of Washington Archaeological Survey
Consulting Activities
1984 Consultant for the World Bank / IMF Luxor Masterplan Project
1993 Consultant to USAID / Chemonix Cultural Heritage Protection Plan
Consultant to World Bank Egyptian Archaeological Conservation Plan
1995 Consultant to USAID / CDM Water Plan for Luxor and Aswan
2000 Consultant to USAID / APRP Groundwater alleviation plan for Theban monuments
2004 Consultant to Supreme Council of Antiquities for Theban Conservation Masterplan
Civic & Professional Activities
Articles on the Theban Mapping Project and Dr. Weeks have appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Times of London, Time, Newsweek, Observer, Economist, El Pais, Neue Zuricher Zeitung, Die Welt and others. Interviews aired on Today Show (3 times), on BBC, NPR, NBC, CBS, ABC, VOA, Radio Cairo, Australian television, South African Television, Italian radio and dozens of local stations. Since May, 1995, hundreds of articles and TV / Radio reports have been devoted to the work in KV 5. That work was the cover story in Time, US News, USA Today, and other journals. Major articles also have appeared in The New Yorker, L’Express, Le Monde du Bible, and other publications. Dr. Weeks has also lectured extensively throughout the United States, in Cananda, England, France, Germany, Spain, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, Mexico and Egypt.
2001 Egypt (4-part mini-series for Deutsche Welle, Canal Plus. BBC)
Egypt Beyond the Pyramids. The History Channel
Building the Impossible: The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Discovery Channel
The Ultimate Guide to the Pyramids. Discovery Channel
The Valley of the Kings. BBC Television
Ancient Thebes. Channel 4 (England)
1997 Tales From the Tomb. ABC Television Special
1992 Host and Organizer, Conference on Archaeological Resource Management - American University in Cairo and U.S. National Park Service, Cairo
1978-83 &1988-94 Member, Board of Governors, American Research Center in Egypt
1987-89 Member, Cairo American College Board of Directors
1985 President, CAC Parent-Teacher Organization
Since 1978 Regular participant in television and radio programs in San Francisco, Seattle and Los Angeles; featured in National Geographic Society program on Egypt, “Egypt: Quest for Eternity”
1981-82 President, Egyptian-American Friendship Association of California
1972 Host and co-producer 6-part series on KCTS educational television dealing with the Age of Tutankhamun
Fellowships & Grants
2000-2012 Project grant, World Monuments Fund and American Express.
1996 - 2012 Over three million dollars in various private project grants.
Project grant (1996-2001) from the Amoco Foundation
Project grant from Santa Fe International
Project grant from the National Geographic Society
Project grant from Pfizer Pharmaceutical Corporation
Project grant from the Mobil Foundation (1996-2000)
1995-1999 Grant for Theban Mapping Project, Amoco Foundation
1988 Project grant for Theban Mapping Project, the Dohrr Foundation
1978-94 Principal Investigator, The Preparation of a New Archaeological Map of the Theban Necropolis, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (1978-94), the Smithsonian Institution and various private sources
1973-77 Principal Investigator, the Epigraphic and Architectural Survey, the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (funding provided by the Smithsonian Institution)
1972-1973 Principal Investigator, A Program to Conserve, Record and Analyze Four Mastabas at Giza (funded by the Smithsonian Institution)
1970 Smithsonian Institution Research Development Award
1969 Yale University Grant in Egyptology
National Institutes of Health Predoctoral Fellowship
American Research Center in Egypt Archaeological Grant
1968 National Institutes of Health Predoctoral Fellowship
Augusta G. Hazard Award for Archaeological Research, Yale University
1967 National Institutes of Health Predoctoral Fellowship
1966 Fellowship in Egyptology, Yale University
Grant for Archaeological Study, University of Washington
Awards
1976 Elected Corresponding Member of the Institut d’Egypte, Cairo
1996 Dr. Weeks’ work on the Theban Mapping Project and in KV5 was elected by Time Magazine, Discover Magazine, and Popular Science as one of the ten most important discoveries of 1995.
Explorer of the Year. The Explorers Club, New York
American Academy of Achievement Golden Plate Award
Honorary Fellow, Association Espanola de Egiptologia
1998 Award Council Member, American Academy of Achievement
1999 Distinguished Alumnus, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Washington
2000 Selected as one of the 100 most distinguished alumni of the century, University of Washington
2003 Recipient, William Brown Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Historical Preservation
2004-2010 Honorary President, Sussex (England) Egyptological Society
The Theban Mapping Project Website was chosen by the London Sunday Times as the best educational website of 2003. From 2001 to 2012, it has also won a Webbie Award and over thirty other awards for design and content
2011 Festschrift: Essays in Honour of Kent R. Weeks. Cairo: Supreme Council of Antiquities..
1962 The Fort Simcoe Archaeological Survey. University of Washington Archaeological Laboratory. 65 pp.
1966 Representations of Achondroplasia and its Social Significance in Dynastic Egypt. Unpubl. M.A. thesis, 342 pp.
1967 The Classic Christian Townsite at Arminna West. Publications of the Pennsylvania-Yale Egyptian Expedition, vol. 3. New Haven. 104 pp.
Review of Alexander Badawy, Architecture in Ancient Egypt and the Near East. American Anthropologist, p. 385.
1968 Review of William C. Hayes, Most Ancient Egypt. Ethnohistory, pp. 112-13.
1969 Excavations at Hierakonpolis, 1969. NARCE 70: 1-4.
1970 Anatomical Knowledge of the Ancient Egyptians and the Representation of the Human Figure in Egyptian Art. Unpubl. Ph.D. thesis, Yale University. 550 pp.
1971 The Building of the Pyramids. Natural History Nov.-Dec., pp. 28ff.
1973 A Study of Four Giza Mastabas. NARCE 86: 20-29. Also publ. separately.
Preliminary Report on the First Two Seasons at Hierakonpolis, II: The Early Dynastic Palace. JARCE 9: 29-33.
Review of F.G. Bratton, A History of Egyptian Archaeology. JARCE 10: 107-8.
(with James Harris) X-Raying the Pharaohs. New York: Scribner’s. (A main selection of the Library of Science and of the National History Book Club; a featured alternate selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club; published also in England (MacDonald’s); translated into Danish, Dutch, Japanese; issued as a paperback in 1975 and a main selection of the Paperback Book Club; selected by the New York Academy of Sciences as one of the ten best science books of 1973.)
X-Raying the Pharaohs. Natural History, Feb., pp. 15-30.
1974 Cultures of the Ancient Nile. Collier’s Encyclopaedia Yearbook, pp. 31-42.
1976 Review of A-P. Leca, La Médecine égyptienne au Temps de Pharaons, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 35, 1:43-46.
1977 Review of Kurt Mendelssohn, Riddle of the Pyramids. Journal of Near Eastern Studies.
1978 Review of the Guido Manjo, The Healing Hand: Man and Wound in the Ancient World. University Publishing, Spring, 1978.
Review of Glynn Daniel, A Hundred and Fifty Years of Archaeology. University Publishing, Summer, 1978.
Review of William Y. Adams, Nubia: Corridor to Africa, and Bruce G. Trigger, Nubia under the Pharaohs. Science, 12 May 1978, pp. 661-63.
1979 Ancient Egyptian Dentistry: A Survey and Some Comments. In: James Harris and Edward Wente (eds), An X-Ray Atlas of the Pharaohs, University of Chicago Press, pp. 59-82.
Art, Word and the Ancient World View (A paper presented to the First International Congress of Egyptologists). In: Weeks, (ed.), Egyptology and the Social Sciences, pp. 59-82.
(editor) Egyptology and the Social Sciences: Five Studies. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press.
The Berkeley Map of the Theban Necropolis: Preliminary Report. Berkeley. Reprinted in the NARCE.
(supervisor) Journey to the West: A Guide to the Egyptian Collection in the Lowle Museum. Berkeley.
1980 An Archaeological Map of the Theban Necropolis. Acts of the First International Congress of Egyptology.
The Berkeley Map of the Theban Necropolis: Report of the Second Season. Berkeley. Reprinted in the NARCE.
Review of D. Wildung: Egyptian Saints. University Publishing, Spring, 1980.
The Berkeley Map of the Theban Necropolis: Report of the Third Season. Berkeley. Reprinted in the NARCE.
1981 Köningsmumien. In Helck-Otto, Lexikon der Ägyptologie. Wiesbaden. III: 535-38.
The Berkeley Map of the Theban Necropolis: Report of the Fourth Season. Berkeley. Reprinted in the NARCE.
1982 (Field director) The Temple of Khonsu, II: Scenes and Inscriptions in the Court and the Hypostyle Hall. Publications of the Oriental Institute. University of Chicago Press.
A Theban Grid Network. MDAIK 37: 489-492.
(with M. Mosher) Review of Darby, Ghalioungui and Grivetti, Food: The Gift of Osiris. JARCE 16: 185-88.
Review of P.L. Shinnie, Debeira West. Orientalia.
The Berkeley Map of the Theban Necropolis: Report of the Fifth Season. Berkeley. Reprinted in the NARCE.
1983 Studies in Papyrus Ebers. Bulletin de l’Institut d’Egypte. 58-9: 292-99.
Review of M. Hoffman, Egypt Before the Pharaohs. JARCE.
1984 Scheich Abd el-Gurneh (mit Asasif). Lexikon der Ägyptologie.
1985 An Historical Bibliography of Egyptian Prehistory. New York.
The Berkeley Map of the Theban Necropolis: Report of the Sixth and Seventh Seasons. Berkeley.
The Berkeley Theban Mapping Project. Acts of the IIIre International Congress of Egyptologists, Münich, 1985. In: Studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur.
1986 (Field director) Historical Inscriptions of Seti I: The Outer Face of the North Wall of the Hypostyle Hall, Temple of Amon at Karnak. Chicago: Oriental Institute.
1989 Review of M. Steadman, Egyptian Daily Life. Inter.J.Afr. Hist.
Putting Ancient Egypt on the Map. Horus 7, 2 (1988.89): 5-7.
1990 “The Antiquities of Thebes,” A paper presented to the Climate Institute Cairo Conference on Climate Change, December, 1989. Cairo, n.p., 1990. Reprinted in the NARCE, Summer.
Anatomy of a Concession. KMT: A Modern Journal of Ancient Egypt 1 (1990): 40-47.
Review of Whitney Davis, The Canonical Tradition in Ancient Egyptian Art. American Anthropologist, 1991.
1991 The Theban Mapping Project and Work in the Valley of the Kings Tomb Five. In: C.N. Reeves (ed.), After Tutankhamun: Papers From an International Conference on the Valley of the Kings at Highclere Castle. London, 1991. Pp. 99-121.
1993 Conserving Egypt’s Cultural Heritage: Priority Sites Needing Restoration and Protection. Washington, D.C.: Pride, Chemonix, 1993.
1994 Protecting the Theban Necropolis. Egyptian Archaeology 4 (1994): 23-27.
“The Work of the Theban Mapping Project in the Valley of the Kings.” A paper presented at the University of Arizona International Conference on the Valley of the Kings. Tuscon, October, 1994. (to be publ. in The Proceedings, 1995)
A Guide to Egyptological Literature in English. In: Nicolas Grimal, A History of Ancient Egypt. Oxford: Blackwell’s 1994. Pp. 484-489.
The Theban Mapping Project: Report of the 1994 Field Season. Cairo.
(Field director) Reliefs and Inscriptions at Luxor Temple, 1: The Festival Procession of Opet in the Colonnade Hall (=OIP, 112). Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994.
Cemetery G6000: The Mastabas of Ity, Iymery, Shepseskafankh, and Neferbauptah (=Giza Mastabas, 6). Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1994.
1995 Work in the Valley of the Kings. Minerva: The International Review of Ancient Art & Archaeology (Summer, 1995).
Medicine, Surgery and Public Health in Ancient Egypt. In: Encyclopaedia of Civilizations of the Ancient Near East. New York: Scribners, 1995. Pp. 1787-1798.
Recent Work in the Valley of the Kings. Egyptian Archaeology 4 (1995): 23-26.
Clearing KV5: Investigating the Tomb of the Sons of Ramesses II. Minerva: The International Review of Ancient Art & Archaeology 6/6 (November/December) (1995): 20-24.
Tomb KV5 Revealed. Egyptian Archaeology 7 (1995): 26-27.
1995 American’s Contribution to an Understanding of Egyptian Prehistory. In: Nancy Thomas (ed.). The American Discovery of Ancient Egypt: Essays. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1996.
The Work of the Theban Mapping Project and the Protection of the Valley of the Kings. In: Richard Wilkinson (ed.), The Valley of the Kings. Tucson: University of Arizona, 1996.
The History of Egyptian Archaeology. In: Encyclopaedia of the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East. New York, 1996.
Toward the Establishment of a Pre-Islamic Archaeological Database. In: FS W.K. Simpson, 1996.
1997 Website (KV5.COM).
1998 KV5: The Lost Tomb. New York: William Morrow and London: Weidenfield and Nicholson, 1998. Translated into French, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Hungarian, A Literary Guild Selection. Los Angeles Times Notable Book of the Year.
Egypt’s Valley of the Kings. National Geographic Magazine, September, 1998.
KV5. In: Boletin de la Asociacion Espanola de Egiptologia, No. 7, 1997.
KV5. In: Encyclopaedia of the Civilizations of the Ancient Near East. New York, 1996.
The Valley of the Kings. In: Encyclopaedia of the Civilizations of the Ancient Near East. New York, 1996.
2000 (editor). An Atlas of the Valley of the Kings. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press.
(editor). KV 5: A Preliminary Report on the Tomb of the Sons of Ramesses II. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press. (two printings).
(joint author). Shared Responsibility for Antiquities Preservation: A Strategy for Reducing Impacts Associated with Irrigated Agriculture and Other Land Uses. RDI Policy Brief, 24. Cairo.
2001 (editor). Wadi el Melouk: Dalel el-Lafetat. Cairo: Supreme Council of Antiquities.
Archaeology. In Oxford Encyclopaedia of Ancient Egypt. Oxford, 2001.
Theban Necropolis. In: Oxford Encyclopaedia of Ancient Egypt. Oxford, 2001.
Tombs. In: Oxford Encyclopaedia of Ancient Egypt. Oxford, 2001.
Valley of the Kings. In: Oxford Encyclopaedia of Ancient Egypt. Oxford, 2001.
2002 (Editor). Treasures of the Valley of the Kings. Rome. Published in English, French, German, and Italian editions.
Thebes: A Model for Every City. In: ibid., pp. 9-21
The Temple of Amenhotep III. In: ibid., pp. 62-65.
Introduction to the Valley of the Kings. In: ibid., pp. 112-123.
(editor) Theban Mapping Project
Tombs: An Overview. In: D. B. Redford (ed.), The Ancient Gods Speak: A Guide to Egyptian Religion. Oxford, 2002, pp. 355-364.
2003 The Needs of Modern Egyptological Conservation: A Reply. In: Zahi Hawass (ed.). Proceedings of the International Congress of Egyptologists, Cairo. Cairo. Vol. III, pp. 788-790.
Changing Egyptian Archaeology. American Anthropologist: Anthropology News 44, 4 (April, 2003): 44.
(Editor and Director.) Theban Mapping Project. Website.
Ficus Sycomorus. In: Hommages a Fayza Haikal. Bibliotheque d’Etudes, 138. Pp. 305-313. Cairo: Institut francaise d’archeologie orientale. Pp.
Work of the Theban Mapping Project, 2001-2002. Annales du Service des Antiquities egyptienne. Cairo.
2004 Atlas of the Valley of the Kings: Study Edition. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press.
2004-2009 A Management Plan for the Valley of the Kings, Egypt. Cairo: TMP. Eight volumes.
2005 Guide to Ancient Thebes. Rome: Whitestar and Cairo: AUC Press (also published in French, Italian, German, Spanish, Greek, and Russian). Selected by Country Life as one of the year’s best guide books.
2008 Archaeology and Egyptology. In: Richard Wilkinson, ed.., EDgyptology Today. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 7-22.
2011 Can Egypt Protect its Ancient Monuments? Newsweek 9 May 2011. Pp> 50-51.
Foreword. In: Kees van der Spek, The Modern Neighbors of Tutankhamun: History, Life, and Work In the Villages of the Theban West Bank. Cairo: AUC Press. Pp. xvii-xix.
2012 Theban Necropolis. Wiley Online Encyclopaedia of Ancient History.
In press Protecting the Valley of the Kings. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press.
[the same, in Arabic]. Cairo: AUC Press.
Co-editor. The Oxford Handbook to the Valley of the Kings. Oxford University Press.
The Toponymy of the Valley of the Kings and its Approaches. In: Ibid.
The Component Parts of Royal Tombs in the Valley of the Kings. In: Ibid.
Visitors to the Valley of the Kings, Antiquity to the Twenty-First Century. In: Ibid.
B.A. (Anthropology) University of Washington, Seattle, 1963
M.A. (Anthropology) University of Washington, Seattle, 1965
Ph.D. (Egyptology) Yale University, New Haven, 1970