Houses of Eternity: How to get a decorated tomb in ancient Egypt

The American Research Center in Egypt, Northern California Chapter, and the Near Eastern Studies Department, University of California, Berkeley, invite you to attend a lecture by Dr. Deanna Kiser-Go, University of California, Berkeley: Houses of Eternity: How to get a decorated tomb in ancient Egypt Sunday, April 8, 3 pm Room 20 Barrows Hall UC Berkeley Campus (Near the intersection of Bancroft Way and Barrow Lane) Tomb of Ramose, Luxor West Bank, Photo 1998 by Glenn Meyer, Copyright 1375 BCE by Ramose. About the Lecture: For the ancient Egyptians, having an appropriate place in which to spend eternity after concluding their mortal existence on earth was critical to their religious beliefs. Should their physical body, memory, and name vanish after death, their individual essence would cease to exist. Each wealthy Egyptian planned a well-provisioned tomb to house their corpse and preserve their memory with the goal of maintaining their soul. Endowments at a nearby priestly organization were established so that the tomb occupant would receive offerings in perpetuity. The New Kingdom (ca. 1550-1070 BCE), while only one phase in the lengthy development of funerary monuments, provides some of the clearest evidence of how these "houses for eternity" were made. This paper will address the most important aspects of tomb creation – from situating and ornamenting the sepulcher up to one's interment after a lengthy series of preparations and rituals. I will devote special attention to the decorative process that resulted in extensive compositions, the interpretation of which have resulted in a large portion of modern scholars' understanding about daily life in this advanced but ancient civilization. About the Speaker: Deanna Kiser-Go studied anthropology and ancient history at the University of Vermont, before working for several years as an archaeologist in Vermont and California. She received her PhD in Near Eastern Studies from the University of California, Berkeley in 2006—having specialized in Egyptian art and archaeology. After teaching Egyptian history at the University of Michigan she returned to Berkeley to conduct various courses on ancient Egyptian civilization, before taking a position as Lecturer in Egyptology at UCLA. Dr. Kiser-Go has worked in Egypt on several occasions, including carrying out the fieldwork in private tombs that resulted in her dissertation on the iconography and style of Post-Amarna Period art. In recent years she has been a visiting scholar at Berkeley, working on publications that include her former advisor Cathleen A. Keller's manuscript, and a volume of collected papers in memory of the same. Her research interests broadly include ancient art and artists, Mesopotamian archaeology, and cross-cultural contact in the ancient Mediterranean world. Dr. Kiser-Go's current position as the Graduate Student Advising Officer in Near Eastern Studies at UC Berkeley has brought her career full circle, so that she now guides students in her alma mater, while once more utilizing the valuable resources offered by the campus libraries and faculty for her academic study. ---------- Parking is available in U.C. lots after 5 p.m. on weekdays and all day on weekends for a fee. Ticket dispensing machines accept either $5 bills or $1 bills, and debit or credit cards. The Underhill lot can be entered from Channing way off College Avenue. Parking is also available in lots along Bancroft, and on the circle drive in front of the Valley Life Sciences building. A map of the campus is available online at http://www.berkeley.edu/map/ For more information about Egyptology events, go tohttp://www.facebook.com/NorthernCaliforniaARCE or http://www.arce-nc.org.