January 2025 Supporter Q&A

In this episode of 'Afterlives of Ancient Egypt,' we answer this month’s supporter questions about the Old Kingdom, debating the logistical and artefactual impacts of Egypt's unification on surrounding regions, the linguistic continuity from the Old to the New Kingdom, and much more.

Los Angeles Fire Relief

• California Fire Foundation

• Los Angeles Fire Foundation

• American Red Cross

• Wildfire Recovery Fund

• United Way of Greater Los Angeles

• The Dream Center

• California Community Fund

• Canine Rescue Fund

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Show Notes

Fighting Fire at the Getty Villa

Imhotep

• ARCE Post: Imhotep: A Sage between Fiction and Reality

Serdab statue of Djoser, now in the Cairo Museum

The same statue with Imhotep’s name on the base (Photo: José Miguel Parra Ortiz)

Tales of Unification

• Wengrow, David, The Archaeology of Early Egypt: Social transformations in North-East Africa, 10,000 to 2650 B.C., Cambridge University Press, 2006.

Old Egyptian

Diary of Merer, one of the oldest known papyri (source)

• Khaemwaset, the “first archaeologist”

The Mystery of the Sphinx

The face of the Sphinx vs. the only known statue of Khufu— do you see a resemblance?

For more on the Sphinx debate and Khufu’s ivory statuette, check out Amber’s post and our earlier podcast episodes on this topic, “Khufu’s itty, bitty ivory statuette” and “Top 5 Debates in Egyptology (Part 1)”!

Artifact Stories: Khufu’s itty, bitty ivory statuette