Staff profile

Jo Derbyshire

My area of interest is the study of cults in relation to industrial sites in Ancient Egypt.  My research focuses on the Temple of Sobek at Gebel el-Silsila in southern Egypt. 

The ancient quarry of Gebel el-Silsila was the source of the sandstone for many royal and cult temples across Egypt.  The site is well-known as an industrial landscape, but through the work of the Gebel el-Silsila Archaeological Mission, evidence of a significant local cult to the god Sobek is also emerging.  Three temples evidently operated during the New Kingdom, the largest of which was the Temple of Sobek on the east bank of the Nile.  At least 80m x 40m minimum in size (excavations ongoing), the temple would have dominated the landscape, seen from both the northern and southern approaches of the Nile.  Buried foundations, foundation pits, small finds, broken statuary, and thousands of relief fragments are all that remains of the Temple of Sobek today. 

The Cult of Sobek at Gebel el-Silsila was active during the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Dynasties with attestations of Thutmoses III, Amenhotep III, Ramesses II and III amongst the fragmentary material.  However, the temple was demolished (many fragments show signs of deliberate hacking and destruction) after the reign of Ramesses III (1155 BC), but before the Romans arrived (c30BC).  Images of Sobek were defaced upon other monuments around the site.

I am studying the 2500+ sandstone and limestone relief fragments to create a hypothesis on the potential scenes of the temple, based on a comparative study with other temples.  

The research is carried out as part of the Gebel el-Silsila Archaeological Mission Project, and excavation of the temple site is ongoing.

Conference Contributions:

Egypt Exploration Society Congress, 2021

Current Research in Egyptology, Liverpool, 2024

Awards:  

Early Career Researcher Seedcorn Award, Durham University, 2022

The Barry Northrop Award, 2024