Marleen De Meyer

Position: William Kelly Simpson Visiting Professor in Egyptology
Department: Department of Sociology, Egyptology and Anthropology

Brief Biography

Marleen De Meyer’s research centers around Egyptian provincial funerary culture and administration from the Old Kingdom to the Middle Kingdom. She is the Assistant Director for Archaeology and Egyptology at the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo (NVIC, Leiden University), and co-director of the Dayr al-Barsha Project, an interdisciplinary archaeological research project in Middle Egypt. De Meyer received her PhD in Egyptology at KU Leuven, Belgium, with a dissertation on the late Old Kingdom rock tombs at Dayr al-Barsha. After her PhD, she was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship by the Research Foundation Flanders to investigate provincial administration in the 15^th and 16^th Upper Egyptian nomes. Part of that fellowship she spent as a visiting research scholar at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. As a postdoctoral fellow at KU Leuven she also taught courses on the archaeology and language of ancient Egypt.

Recently De Meyer has engaged in projects on the history of Egyptology. Between 2018–2023, she was a postdoctoral researcher in the project Pyramids and Progress: Belgian expansionism and the making of Egyptology, 1830–1952, and for the past three years, she co-directed the SURA Project at the Royal Museums of Art and History in Brussels, focusing on the early 20th-century glass plates collection of the Egyptian department that documents the pioneering years of Egyptology in Belgium. Now, she works within the core research group of the Arabic Diaries Project under the direction of Harvard University.

Research Interest

Egyptian archaeology
Funerary culture
Old Kingdom – Middle Kingdom
Provincial administration
Digital epigraphy
History of Egyptology

Education

PhD in Egyptology, KU Leuven, Belgium

Journal articles & book chapters

De Meyer, M., Claes, W., Mahran, N.M.A., Van der Perre, A. & Gräzer Ohara, A., 2023. Working with Capart: Quftis and local workmen during the Elkab excavation seasons, 1937–1946. In: H. Navrátilová, T.L. Gertzen, M. De Meyer, A.M. Dodson & A. Bednarski (eds), Addressing Diversity: Inclusive Histories of Egyptology (Investigatio Orientis 9). Münster: Zaphon, 343–364.
Sykora, T., De Lima, R., De Meyer, M., Vergauwen, M., Willems, H., 2023. Puzzling Tombs: Virtual reconstruction of the Middle Kingdom elite necropolis at Dayr al-Barsha (Middle Egypt). In: Lucarelli, R., Roberson, J., Vinson, S. (eds), Ancient Egypt, New Technology. The Present and Future of Computer Visualization, Virtual Reality and other Digital Humanities in Egyptology (Harvard Egyptological Studies 17). Leiden: Brill, 532–550.
De Meyer, M., 2021. Chaos en Beheersing: The Life of Henri Asselberghs and his Friendship with Jean Capart. In: Claes, W., De Meyer, M., Eyckerman, M., Huyge, D. (eds), Remove that Pyramid! Studies on the Archaeology and History of Predynastic and Pharaonic Egypt in Honour of Stan Hendrickx (Orientalia Lovaniensa Analecta 305). Leuven: Peeters, 309–362.
De Meyer, M., Serrano, J.M., 2019. Cattle Feet in Funerary Rituals: A Diachronic View Combining Archaeology and Iconography. In: Piacentini, P., Delli Castelli, A. (eds), Old Kingdom Art and Archaeology 7. Proceedings of the international conference. Università degli studi di Milano, 3–7 July 2017 (Egyptian & Egyptological Documents, Archives, Libraries 6). Milan: Pontremoli Editore, 402–407.
De Meyer, M., Vandersmissen, J., Verbruggen, C., Claes, W., Delvaux, L., Bruwier, M.-C., Quertinmont, A., Warmenbol, E., Bavay, L., Willems, H., 2019. Pyramids and Progress. Belgian Expansionism and the Making of Egyptology, 1830–1952. In: Navrátilová, H., Gertzen, T.L., Dodson, A.M., Bednarski, A. (eds), Towards a History of Egyptology. Proceedings of the Egyptological Section of the 8th ESHS Conference in London, 2018, (Investigatio Orientis 4). Münster: Zaphon, 173–193.
De Meyer, M., 2018. Reading a Burial Chamber: Anatomy of a First Intermediate Period Coffin in Context. In: Taylor, J.H., Vandenbeusch, M. (eds), Ancient Egyptian Coffins: Craft Traditions and Functionality (British Museum Publications on Egypt and Sudan 4). Leuven: Peeters, 217–230.
de Lima Hernandez, R., Sykora, T., De Meyer, M., Willems, H., Vergauwen, M., 2018. On Combining Epigraphy, TLS, Photogrammetry, and Interactive Media for Heritage Documentation: The Case Study of Djehutihotep’s Tomb in Dayr al-Barsha. In: Sablatnig, R., Wimmer, M. (eds), GCH 2018–Eurographics Workshop on Graphics and Cultural Heritage, 225–229. doi: 10.2312/gch.20181367
De Meyer, M., Willems, H., 2016–17. The Regional Supply Chain of Djehutihotep's Ka-Chapel in Tjerty. Cahiers de recherches de l’Institut de papyrologie et d'égyptologie de Lille 31, 33–56.
De Meyer, M., 2016. An Isolated Middle Kingdom Tomb at Dayr al-Barsha. In: Miniaci, G., Grajetzki, W. (eds), The World of Middle Kingdom Egypt (2000–1550 BC), Volume II (Middle Kingdom Studies 2). London: GHP Publications, 85–115.
De Meyer, M., Linseele, V., Vereecken, S., Williams, L.J., 2014. Fowl for the Governor: The Tomb of Governor Djehutinakht IV or V at Dayr al-Barshā reinvestigated, II: Pottery, Human Remains, and Faunal Remains. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 100, 67–87.
Minas-Nerpel, M., De Meyer, M., 2013. Raising the Pole for Min in the Temple of Isis at Shanhur. Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde 140, 150–166.
De Meyer, M., Dils, P., 2012. Fowl for the Governor: The Tomb of Governor Djehutinakht IV or V at Dayr al-Barshā reinvestigated, I: Architecture and Archaeology. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 98, 55–72.
De Meyer, M., Minas-Nerpel, M., 2012. Shenhur, Temple of. In: E. Frood, W. Wendrich (eds), UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, (1–9). Los Angeles: University of California, Los Angeles.
De Meyer, M., 2011. The Fifth Dynasty Royal Decree of Ia-Ib at Dayr al-Barshā. Revue d'Égyptologie 62, 57–71.
De Meyer, M., 2011. Two Cemeteries for One Provincial Capital? Deir el-Bersha and el-Sheikh Said in the Fifteenth Upper Egyptian Nome during the Old Kingdom. In: Strudwick, N., Strudwick, H. (eds), Old Kingdom: New Perspectives. Egyptian Art and Archaeology 2750–2150 BC. Proceedings of a Conference at the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge, May 2009. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 42–49.
De Meyer, M., 2011. Inlaid Eyes on Old Kingdom Coffins: A History of Misidentification. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 97, 201–203.
De Meyer, M., Vereecken, S., Vanthuyne, B., Hendrickx, S., Op de Beeck, L., Willems, H., 2011. The Early Old Kingdom at Nuwayrat in the 16th Upper Egyptian Nome. In: Aston, D., Bader, B., Gallorini, C., Nicholson, P., Buckingham, S. (eds), Under the Potter's Tree. Studies on Ancient Egypt Presented to Janine Bourriau on the Occasion of her 70th Birthday (Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 204). Leuven: Peeters, 679–702.
Dupras, T., Williams, L.J., De Meyer, M., Peeters, C., Depraetere, D., Vanthuyne, B., Willems, H., 2010. Evidence of Amputation as Medical Treatment in Ancient Egypt. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 20 (4), 405–423. doi: 10.1002/oa.1061
De Meyer, M., 2007. The Tomb of Henu at Deir el-Barsha. Egyptian archaeology 31, 20–24.
De Meyer, M., Van Neer, W., Peeters, C., Willems, H., 2005–2006. The Role of Animals in the Funerary Rites at Dayr al-Barshā. Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 42, 45–71.
De Meyer, M., 2005. Restoring the Tombs of his Ancestors? Djehutinakht, Son of Teti, at Deir al-Barsha and Sheikh Said. IBAES: Internet-Beiträge zur Ägyptologie und Sudanarchäologie 5, 125–135.

Books & Edited Volumes

Gräzer Ohara, A., Van der Perre, A., De Meyer, M. & Claes, W., 2023. Sura: Egypt through a Belgian Lens. Gent: Snoeck.
Navrátilová, H., Gertzen, T.L., De Meyer, M., Dodson, A.M., Bednarski, A. (eds), forthcoming. Addressing Diversity: Inclusive Histories of Egyptology (Investigatio Orientis. Beiträge zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte der Orientalistik 9). Münster: Zaphon.
Claes, W., De Meyer, M., Eyckerman, M., Huyge, D. (eds), 2021. Remove that Pyramid! Studies on the Archaeology and History of Predynastic and Pharaonic Egypt in Honour of Stan Hendrickx (Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 305). Leuven: Peeters.
De Meyer, M., de Cartier d’Yves, S. (eds), 2021. Belgians on the Nile. A history of royal visits, entrepreneurship, and archaeological exploration in Egypt. Alexandria: Bibliotheca Alexandrina.
De Meyer, M., Cortebeeck, K. (eds), 2015. Djehoetihotep. 100 jaar opgravingen in Egypte/ Djehoutihotep. 100 ans de fouilles en Egypte. Leuven: Peeters.
Willems, H., Coppens, F., De Meyer, M., Dils, P., 2003. The temple of Shanhûr. 1: The sanctuary, the wabet, and the gates of the central hall and the great vestibule (1–98). (Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 124). Leuven: Peeters.

Marleen De Meyer

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