In this lecture, Kara Cooney will discuss her latest book, Recycling for Death, a meticulous study of the social, economic, and religious significance of coffin reuse during the Ramesside and early Third Intermediate periods. Funerary datasets are the chief source of social history in Egyptology, and the numerous tombs, coffins, Books of the Dead, and mummies of the Twentieth and Twenty-first Dynasties have not been fully utilized as social documents, mostly because the data of this time period is scattered and difficult to synthesize. This book is the culmination of fifteen years of coffin study, analyzing coffins and other funerary equipment of elites from the Nineteenth to the Twenty-second Dynasties to provide essential windows into social strategies and adaptations employed during the Bronze Age collapse and subsequent Iron Age reconsolidation. Cost: Pay what you wish Registration is closed. About the Author Kara Cooney is a professor of Egyptology at UCLA and Chair of the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures. Specializing in social history, gender studies, and economies in the ancient world, she received her Ph.D. in Egyptology from Johns Hopkins University. Her popular books include The Woman Who Would Be King: Hatshepsut's Rise to Power in Ancient Egypt, When Women Ruled the World: Six Queens of Egypt, and The Good Kings: Absolute Power in Ancient Egypt and the Modern World. Her latest books include Ancient Egyptian Society: Challenging Assumptions, Exploring Approaches (Routledge, 2023) and Recycling for Death: Coffin Reuse in Ancient Egypt and the Theban Royal Caches (The American University in Cairo Press, August 2024).

In this lecture, Giselle Király will discuss the power of archaeological human remains, and how, with the right facilitation, they have the ability to promote wellbeing, healing and inclusion. This has been most notable in archaeological sites with military service people, but also seen on sites with people with low mental health, neurodivergence, ADHD, or autism. Giselle will look at sites ranging from Sutton Hoo to World War II, where archaeology, and specifically human remains, have changed peoples lives. This lecture will be held on Zoom. Cost: Pay what you wish Register for Lecture About the Speaker Giselle Király is a commercial fieldwork project officer and human osteoarchaeologist for PCAS Archaeology in England, conducting excavations and analysing skeletal assemblages ranging from the peaty Mesolithic to WWII plane crashes. She also collaborates with Operation Nightingale, of the Ministry of Defence, helping veterans on their path to recovery through archaeology.  She has led fieldwork in Europe, Georgia, and across the UK, teaching osteology and field techniques to students, veterans, volunteers, and police forces. She can be seen on History Hit TV, Digging for Britain, and most notably, the revived Time Team.