Carl Nicholas Reeves is an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 Egyptologist best known for his archaeological work in and writings on the Valley of the Kings

Valley of the Kings

The Valley of the Kings , less often called the Valley of the Gates of the Kings , is a valley in Egypt where, for a period of nearly 500 years from the 16th to 11th century BC, tombs were constructed for the Pharaohs and powerful nobles of the New Kingdom .The valley stands on the west bank of...

. He is currently Sylvan C. Coleman and Pamela Coleman Memorial Fellow for 2010/11 in the Department of Egyptian Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Background

A specialist in Egyptian history and material culture, Reeves is a graduate (first class honours) in Ancient History from University College London (1979). He received his Ph.D. in Egyptology (Studies in the Archaeology of the Valley of the Kings, with Particular Reference to Tomb Robbery and the Caching of the Royal Mummies) from Durham University in 1984.

He was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1994, and an Honorary Fellow of the Oriental Museum, Durham University in 1996. Between 1998 and 2004 he was Honorary Research Fellow in the Institute of Archaeology, University College London.

Museums

Reeves has been active in various museum and heritage roles, including: Curator in the former Department of Egyptian Antiquities at the British Museum (initiating the Survey of Egyptian Collections in the UK - now an important component of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council Cornucopia database) (1984–1991); Curator to Henry Herbert, 7th Earl of Carnarvon at Highclere Castle

Highclere Castle

Highclere Castle is a country house in the Jacobethan style, with park designed by Capability Brown. The 1,000 acre estate is in the English county of Hampshire, about south of the border with Berkshire, and south of Newbury...

 (1988–1998); Curatorial Consultant on Egyptian antiquities to the Freud Museum, London 1986-2006); Honorary Curator and Director of Collections for the Denys Eyre Bower Bequest at Chiddingstone Castle, Kent (1995–2002 and 2003–2007); and G.A.D. Tait Curator of Egyptian and Classical Art at Eton College (2000–2010).

Archaeology

Between 1998 and 2002 Reeves worked in the field as Director of the Amarna Royal Tombs Project in Egypt's Valley of the Kings, undertaking four seasons of survey and excavation with an international team in search of evidence for the missing burials of the women of Akhenaten's court. The first stratigraphic excavation of the Valley ever attempted, among the features pinpointed (during the project's 2000 radar survey) was KV63

KV63

KV63 is the most recently opened chamber in Egypt's Valley of the Kings pharaonic necropolis. Initially believed to be a royal tomb, it is now believed to have been a storage chamber for the mummification process....

, subsequently excavated by Otto Schaden

Otto Schaden

Otto J. Schaden is an American Egyptologist. He is currently the Field Director of the Amenmesse Tomb Project of the University of Memphis . In addition to his ongoing work on the tomb of Amenmesse in the main arm of the Valley of the Kings, he has also cleared and reinvestigated tombs WV23, WV24,...

then working for the University of Memphis.

Other

Reeves has organized or been intimately involved in several major exhibitions of Egyptian, Classical and Oriental art - at the British Museum, London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden, the Roemer- und Pelizaeus-Museum in Hildesheim, the Centro Culturale Conde Duque in Madrid, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Bordeaux, and several venues throughout Japan.

He has organized two international conferences: After Tutankhamun: an International Conference on the Valley of the Kings (Highclere Castle, 1990; and The Amarna Royal Tombs Project 1998-2001 (University College London, 2001).

Dedicated television documentaries on Reeves' work have been aired by The Learning Channel (Nefertiti, Egypt's Mysterious Queen, 1999) and Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) (Missing Queen of the Sun, 2002).

Publications

Reeves has published many academic articles and several well-received books, including:

• Valley of the Kings: The Decline of a Royal Necropolis
• The Complete Tutankhamun
• Howard Carter: Before Tutankhamun (with John H. Taylor)
• The Complete Valley of the Kings (with Richard H. Wilkinson)
• Ancient Egypt: The Great Discoveries
• Akhenaten: Egypt's False Prophet

Reeves has also co-authored a children's book, entitled Into the Mummy's Tomb: The Real-life Discovery of Tutankhamun's Treasures.

External links

• Nicholas Reeves' website
• Archaeology magazine interviews Nicholas Reeves about possible discovery of "KV64"
• Amarna Royal Tombs Project