Nefertiti’s City
At Tell el-Amarna
Saturday, September 17, 2016
10am-5pm
Boulder Public Library
1001 Arapahoe Ave
Boulder, Colorado
All events are free &
open to the public!!
Amarna (called Akhetaten by ancient Egyptians) was the capital city built by the ‘heretic’ Pharaoh
Akhenaten and his Great Royal Wife, Nefertiti. The city was dedicated to the cult of one god, the Aten,
a manifestation of the sun. Amarna rose swiftly on virgin desert - lands un-profaned by the worship of
other deities - and was abandoned just as swiftly shortly after Akhenaten’s death (c. 1332 BCE).
From an archeological perspective, Amarna remains the largest readily accessible living-site of ancient
Egypt. It is the key to understanding an extraordinary chapter of ancient Egypt and Akhenaten’s
monotheistic religious experiment. There is no other site like it.
Nefertiti’s City is a free one-day program offering opportunities to learn first-hand about this amazing
place. On Saturday afternoon, renowned Egyptologist Professor Barry Kemp, Director of the Amarna
Project, will speak on "Urban Un-Planning: How the Ancient City of Nefertiti and Akhenaten Evolved."
Two members of the Amarna excavation team currently excavating the workers’ cemeteries, Dr.
Gretchen Dabbs and Dr. Jerry Rose, will use studies of skeletal remains to discuss what life was really
like in Amarna. These talks will be followed by a hands-on workshop focused around forensic
anthropology and what we can learn about the health and lifestyles of ancient peoples from the bones
unearthed at their gravesites.
The event will also provide activities for the young to learn about ancient Egypt while becoming
“makers,” ancient Egyptian style. There will be opportunities to practice hieroglyphs, build pyramids out
of sugar cubes, spin and weave
flax into linen, practice
woodworking with ancient-style
tools, create Amarna art, design
and dress up in Egyptian
costumes.
Nefertiti’s City is a joint project of
The Amarna Research Foundation
(TARF), the University of Colorado
Classics Department, the Egypt
Workgroup from the Egyptian
Study Society, and the Boulder
Public Library.
More information?
Contact [email protected]
Nefertiti’s City
Schedule of Free Events
Ancient Egyptian Makers Workshops
Saturday, September 17, 2016
10:00 am-Noon and 3:00 -5:00 pm
Make linen from flax - demonstrations and
opportunities to try your hand at spinning and
weaving
Write your name in hieroglyphs
Create a floor painting like Nefertiti walked on in
her palace at Amarna
Use your creativity to color ancient Egyptian
images
Play Egyptian senet, the oldest game in the world
Try your hand at woodworking with tools like the
ancient Egyptians used
Learn how ancient Egyptians made
Need a doctor? Learn how ancient Egyptians
practiced medicine
Through a looping video, join archaeologist Arizona Smith and his junior detectives as they explore
daily life along the Nile
Lectures
Saturday, September 17, 2016
Prof. Barry Kemp
Nefertiti’s City - Urban Form
1:00-2:00 pm
Discussion points will include
The city’s urban form as a self-organized settlement
The population size and composition of ancient Egyptian families (including slaves)
Amarna houses: what they looked like, what they contained. how people dressed and appeared
The workforce: short lifespans of the people and role of children, youth, and elders
Religion in the City: worship of the Aten versus worship in people’s homes
Death and burial practices
Dr. Jerry Rose and Dr. Gretchen Dabbs (Bioarcheologists)
Nefertiti’s City – The Cemeteries
2:00-3:00 pm
What the Amarna excavators have learned about the population of the
city from their work in the burial grounds of ordinary people
Bones Workshop
3:00–5:00 pm (concurrent with the afternoon Ancient Egyptian Maker
Workshops)
Build a human skeleton
Learn how bones develop
Use bones to determine age, height, and sex
How to identify disease found in bones
Looping presentation with imagery from Amarna cemetery excavations