ARCE-DC: Deir el-Ballas: Re-Excavating an Old Dig by Dr. Peter Lacovara

Lecture Information

Despite its pivotal role in ancient Egyptian history, Deir el-Ballas is not very well known. Located about 20 miles north of western Thebes, it was the forward capital of the Theban kings during their drive to expel the Hyksos invaders in the north and reunite the land. Founded by 17th-dynasty king Seqenenre Tao around 1550 B. C., Deir el-Ballas served as the campaign palace for Seqenenre Tao himself as well as kings Kamose and Ahmose.

The site was first excavated by George Andrew Reisner, working for the Phoebe A. Hearst Expedition of the University of California, Berkeley, in the years 1900-1901. Results of the excavation were never published, and the site was long forgotten. In the 1980s Peter Lacovara came across the records of the site in Reisner’s archives in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and he conducted surveying, mapping, and excavation to better understand those documents.

Almost ten years ago, Mustafa Waziri, who was then the Chief Inspector at Qena, asked Lacovara to return to the site because it was in danger of destruction by the expansion of the neighboring modern village, Deir el-Gharbi. Working with Salima Ikram, of the American University in Cairo, Lacovara and the Ancient Egyptian Heritage and Archeology Fund continue work to protect, preserve, and publish this important ancient city.

Speaker Bio

Dr. Peter Lacovara (B.A. 1976 Boston University, Ph.D. 1993 The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago) is the Director of The Ancient Egyptian Archeology and Heritage Fund. He is also Consulting Curator for the Egyptian Collection at the Albany Institute of History and Art, and Visiting Research Scholar at the American University in Cairo.

Dr. Lacovara’s archaeological fieldwork has included excavations in the Valley of the Kings at Thebes, the Palace-City of Amenhotep III at Malqata in Western Thebes, Abydos, Hierakonpolis, and the Giza Plateau. He is currently directing the survey and restoration of the site of Deir el-Ballas. His publications include studies on daily life and urbanism in ancient Egypt, Egyptian mortuary traditions, and the material culture of ancient Egypt and Nubia.

Dr. Lacovara was Senior Curator of Ancient Egyptian, Nubian, and Near Eastern Art at the Michael C. Carlos Museum in Atlanta, Georgia, from 1998 to 2014. Previously he served as Assistant Curator in the Department of Ancient Egyptian, Nubian, and Near Eastern Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

In addition, he has taught at Syracuse University, Virginia Commonwealth University, Georgia State University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and he has been the W. K. Simpson Distinguished Visiting Professor at the American University in Cairo.