Geoffrey Almeric Thorndike Martin (28 May 1934 – 7 March 2022) was a British

egyptologist Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , '' -logia''; ar, علم المصريات) is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religiou ...

, Edwards Professor of Egyptian Archaeology and Philology Emeritus,

University College, London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = � ...

, Joint Field Director of the

Amarna Royal Tombs Project The Amarna Royal Tombs Project (ARTP) is an archaeological expedition devoted to the Amarna Period. It was established in 1998 to ascertain on the ground and in the ancient records the fate of the missing Amarna royal dead, which were transferred ...

and fellow commoner of Christ's College, Cambridge.

Biography

Martin was born in

South Ockendon South Ockendon is a town, former civil parish and Church of England parish within the Thurrock borough in Essex in the East of England, United Kingdom. It is located on the border with Greater London, just outside the M25 motorway. The area to t ...

on 28 May 1934. He attended school at

Aveley Aveley is a town and former civil parish in the unitary authority of Thurrock in Essex, England, and forms one of the traditional Church of England parishes. Aveley is 16 miles (26.2 km) east of Charing Cross. In the 2021 United Kingdom c ...

and then Palmer's School in Grays in Essex. Martin received a BA in Ancient History from

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

in 1963. He has the degrees of MA, PhD and Litt. D from

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

and was Budge Research Fellow in Egyptology at Christ's College, Cambridge from 1964 to 1970. After leaving Christ's College Martin became Lecturer in

Egyptology Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , ''-logia''; ar, علم المصريات) is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious p ...

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

, Reader from 1978 and

Edwards Professor of Egyptian Archaeology and Philology The Edwards Professor of Egyptian Archaeology and Philology is a university professorial chair held at University College London. History The chair was founded on the death of Amelia Edwards of the Egyptian Exploration Fund in 1892, who bequeathi ...

from 1988 until retirement in 1993. Martin's fieldwork was carried out in various locations in Sudan and

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

. He excavated with the

Egypt Exploration Society The Egypt Exploration Society (EES) is a British non-profit organization. The society was founded in 1882 by Amelia Edwards and Reginald Stuart Poole in order to examine and excavate in the areas of Egypt and Sudan. The intent was to study and ana ...

's mission at

Buhen Buhen ( grc, Βοὥν ''Bohón'') was an ancient Egyptian settlement situated on the West bank of the Nile below (to the North of) the Second Cataract in what is now Northern State, Sudan. It is now submerged in Lake Nasser, Sudan; as a resu ...

in the Sudan in 1963. With the EES and the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden and

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...

he excavated at

Saqqara Saqqara ( ar, سقارة, ), also spelled Sakkara or Saccara in English , is an Egyptian village in Giza Governorate, that contains ancient burial grounds of Egyptian royalty, serving as the necropolis for the ancient Egyptian capital, Memphis ...

from 1964-68; he was site director from 1970-1974, and field director from 1975 to 1998. He was field director of the Amarna Epigraphic Mission, of the

in 1969 and 1980. From 1998 till 2002 he worked under Nicholas Reeves, Project Director, as Joint Field Director of the

. Martin died on 7 March 2022, at the age of 87.

Work

Martin was most famous for his discoveries of the tomb of

Maya Maya may refer to: Civilizations * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (Ethiopia), a popul ...

Tutankhamun Tutankhamun (, egy, twt-ꜥnḫ-jmn), Egyptological pronunciation Tutankhamen () (), sometimes referred to as King Tut, was an Egyptian pharaoh who was the last of his royal family to rule during the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty (ruled ...

's treasurer, and the private tomb of

Horemheb Horemheb, also spelled Horemhab or Haremhab ( egy, ḥr-m-ḥb, meaning " Horus is in Jubilation") was the last pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt (1550–1295 BC). He ruled for at least 14 years between 1319 BC and 1292 BC. ...

, but also more generally for his work in the

Valley of the Kings The Valley of the Kings ( ar, وادي الملوك ; Late Coptic: ), also known as the Valley of the Gates of the Kings ( ar, وادي أبوا الملوك ), is a valley in Egypt where, for a period of nearly 500 years from the 16th to 11th ...

and

. The discoveries in Saqqara include

Tia TIA or Tia may refer to: Aviation * Tampa International Airport, US, IATA code TPA * Texas International Airlines, US, ICAO code * Tirana International Airport Nënë Tereza, Albania, IATA code * Trans International Airlines, former U.S. airl ...

Ramesses the Great Ramesses II ( egy, rꜥ-ms-sw ''Rīʿa-məsī-sū'', , meaning "Ra is the one who bore him"; ), commonly known as Ramesses the Great, was the third pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Along with Thutmose III he is often regarded as t ...

's sister and other dignitaries.

Notable publications

*'Egyptian Administrative and Private-name Seals' (Oxford, 1971) *'The Royal Tomb at El-Amarna', I-II (London, 1974, 1989) *'The Tomb of Hetepka' (London, 1979) *'The Sacred Animal Necropolis at North Saqqara' (London, 1981) *'Canopic Equipment in the Petrie Museum' (Warminster, 1984) (with Vivien Raisman) *'Scarabs, Cylinders and other Egyptian Seals' (Warminster, 1985) *'The Tomb Chapels of Paser and Raia' (London, 1985) *'Corpus of Reliefs of the New Kingdom', I (London, 1987) *'Excavations in the Royal Necropolis at El-Amarna' (Cairo, 1987) (with Aly El-Khouly) *'The Memphite Tomb of Horemheb', I, (London, 1989) *'The Hidden Tombs of Memphis' (London, 1991) *'Bibliography of the Amarna Period and its Aftermath' (London, 1991) *'The Tomb of Tia and Tia' (London, 1997) *'Stelae from Egypt and Nubia in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, C. 3000 BC-AD 1150' (Fitzwilliam Museum Publications, 2005)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Geoffrey Thorndike 1934 births 2022 deaths British Egyptologists People from Aveley Alumni of University College London Academics of University College London