Mennat-Allah El Dorry is an archaeobotanist specialised in Egyptian food and agricultural history. She has worked extensively on archaeological sites across Egypt from different time periods, and focuses on monastic archaeology sites in Egypt, such as the settlement of St. John the Little in Wadi al-Natrun, Dayr Anba Hadra in Aswan, and in Bahareya Oasis. Her publications on Egyptian monastic archaeology vary from articles on wine production to manufacture of fuel in Coptic monastic settlements.

Trained initially as an Egyptologist at The American University in Cairo (class of ‘05, with minors in coptic studies and film studies), El Dorry studied archaeology/archaeobotany at University College London, from where she received her MA in 2007. She completed her PhD at the Institut für Ägyptologie und Koptologie at Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster with a work entitled “Monks and Plants: A Study of Plant Foodways and Agricultural Practices in Egyptian Monastic Settlements” (summa cum laude, funded by the Gertrud-und-Alexander-Böhlig-Stiftung). 

El Dorry worked for almost 15 years at the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities on various projects and has held different positions, the last of which was head of the minister’s scientific office. She has been awarded fellowships in Berlin, Lyon, Brussels, and Cairo, and was appointed lecturer of archaeobotany at Ain Shams University in 2021, teaching both undergraduate and graduate classes.