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Ancient Egypt Magazine

Issue Five - January / February 2001

Editor's Column

The 2001 Diary has filled up with such alarming speed that it's hard to know whether to be pleased or to finally fulfil that long-standing ambition to run away and join the circus.

This is probably the case for anyone involved in Egyptology, either as a professional or as a dedicated follower of the subject. Gratifyingly, there are now more events to attend than ever before, so many books to read that there aren't enough hours in the day, and TV series, videos, web sites and CD-Roms on the subject are proliferating too. Egyptology has never been in better health.

One event was outstanding on the year planner. It will be held later this month (God willing) at the Live­rpool Maritime Museum, and it is the second annual symposium for graduates in the British Isles, hosted by the University of Liverpool School of Archaeology, Classics and Oriental Studies. The purpose of the event is "to provide a rare and important opportunity for doctoral students and post-doctoral resear­chers to announce their research to the academic community, exchange ideas and meet one another".

Why is this event so important, amongst so many others? Simply because it appears to me that the latest generation of students is showing all the hallmarks of a truly vintage season.  I hope that they have no objection to my using an alcoholic analogy. They are the future of a subject that still offers so much to be explored, and has the potential not only to help us under­stand why the modern world is the way it is, but also to foster links and friendship between human beings from different places and with diverse exper­iences of life.

The readers of Ancient Egypt Magazine constitute a broad church. In this issue, you will find letters and articles from indiv­iduals not yet in their teens right through to retired people. Men and women from all backgrounds and nationalities are drawn to the subject of Egyptology. May it always be so. A subject that unites the generations in such a way can only be a good thing.

Part of the reason that the current generation of students is showing such promise is the standard of teaching. Over the past 25 or 30 years in particular, approaches to the subject have changed radically. It has been an exciting period, with many opportunities being created by new communication technology and the latest scientific techniques that are now applied to the field. I am thinking as I write of the people who have inspired me to want to carry on learning more and more about this subject and the way that they have often had to sacrifice their own research interests and time in order to spend it on encouraging not only their students but anyone who wants to learn more about Egyptology.

Not everyone approves of this approach to Egyptology.  I will argue – with whoever cares to discuss it with me – that everyone and anyone has a right to inform­ation about the early cultures of the world because it is only by having access to this sort of information that we can have a true appreciation of ourselves and others. We need the best teachers to be available and we need an inclusive approach.

That brings us back to the students themselves. They have a lot more available to them, of course, in the way of equipment, information, resources and support. (Flashback to Monty Python "When I were a lad" sketch.) They have the work of decades, now centuries, to draw on. There is great public interest in their subject.  Life will be much easier for them, won't it?

Not exactly. Despite massive public interest in the subject, employment opportunities for Egyptology grad­uates and post-graduates, particularly permanent posts, are few and far between.  Furthermore, if they are working in an area that involves the passing on of information to the general public, they are dealing with a far more knowledgeable and deman­ding audience than forty or fifty or a hundred years ago. There are more people involved in the field, and therefore there is more comp­etition.

Despite all this, there are those who are willing to devote years of their lives to it, not for money, nor for fame, but just because "the game's the thing".

Is the new generation of Egyptology students up to the challenges? Well, why not go to the symposium and find out?

 Miriam  A Bibby

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