In over 30 years of traveling to and working in Egypt, Dr. Steve has visited numerous ancient sites that are not typically on the tourist map. Whenever possible, we use our days off from our archaeological excavation to explore little-visited ancient Egyptian sites.

The first part of this class takes us deep into the Nile River's delta region, on a field trip that culminates with a visit to Tanis, the site of one of the greatest discoveries in ancient Egyptian archaeology: the nearly intact tomb of the Late Period pharaoh, Psusennes.

Next, the class reveals the king’s stunning array of gold funerary equipment and jewelry, all discovered in-situ in his tomb in 1939 by a prominent French archaeologist, Pierre Montet. The tomb of Psusennes contained treasures that certainly rival those of an earlier golden Egyptian pharaoh we all know, Tutankhamun.

Think. Gold. A lot of gold. Prepare to be dazzled.

About the Presenter: 

Stephen R. Phillips, Ph.D., is the Curatorial Research Coordinator in the Egyptian Section of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.  Dr. Phillips earned his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in the fields of biological anthropology, archaeology, and Egyptology at the University of Pennsylvania. He is listed with the Register of Professional Archaeologists. He has traveled extensively and participated in a wide range of archaeological excavations for more than 25 years, including fieldwork at Petra, Jordan; near Bordeaux in southwestern France; and in Egypt - at the Great Pyramids and at Saqqara. He is the Archaeological Site Supervisor and Biological Anthropologist for the Cairo University-Brown University Expedition in the Great Western Cemetery at Giza. He is also a professional guide for American tour groups to Egypt. Dr. Phillips specializes in the study of human origins, human skeletal biology, ancient Egyptian mummies and mummification, archaeology and Egyptology.