Dr Penny Wilson 

Penny is a specialist in Egyptology with a particular focus in areas of both hieroglyphic texts as well as field archaeology. After reading Oriental Studies (Egyptian with Coptic) at Liverpool University (BA 1985), she continued to develop her interest in the Egyptian language. Penny's specialist research for my PhD was a lexicographical study of the hieroglyphic texts in the Ptolemaic period Temple of Edfu (1991). Evolving out of this study, she continues to research the Egyptian hieroglyphic writing system, temple ritual practice and the interweaving of mythical stories into Egyptian religious practice as a whole. Penny has worked for seven years as Assistant Keeper in the Department of Antiquities in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (1992-1999), where she developed a wider passion for material culture of Egypt, the Classical World and the Near East. Since 1999 she has been employed as a Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in Egyptology at the Department of Archaeology, Durham University.

Penny is interested in the dynamics of life in the Nile delta including coping with the Nile's flood regime in the past, the development of urban centres and the tension between agricultural life and the state. She is also interested in the interactions between the religious life and thinking of the temple and the world outside and the nature of religious experience in 'ordinary' daily life. Penny's current work is focussed upon the process of change in material culture and settlements from the Pharaonic period, through the hellenistic and Roman eras, to the Christian and Islamic periods.

Affiliated research