Naguib Kanawati (born 1941) is an Egyptian Australian Egyptologist and Professor of Egyptology at Macquarie University in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Early life

Kanawati was born in Alexandria, Egypt to a Melkite Greek Catholic family of Syro-Lebanese descent.

Career

A native of Alexandria, Egypt, he obtained a master's degree in business administration and later emigrated to Sydney, Australia, where he obtained his second Master's degree and Doctorate, both in Egyptology. He subsequently joined the academic staff of the university, as lecturer in History (1980–1983), and Associate Professor in Egyptology (1984–1990). From 1990, Kanawati became Macquarie University's first Professor in Egyptology and holds a Personal Chair in that subject. He was instrumental in the formation of the Rundle Foundation for Egyptian Archaeology in the late 1970s and was the founder, in 1989, of the Australian Centre for Egyptology, which coordinates all Australian excavations in Egypt with the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities. Kanawati's research interests focus on the Old Kingdom period of Egypt, its burial customs, art history, and socio-political development. He has directed numerous excavations and epigraphic expeditions, at sites including the entire mountain of El-Hawawish (in excess of 800 Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period rock-cut tombs), Quseir El Amarna, El Hagarsa (near Sohag), Deir El Gebrawi, Giza, as well as the Unis and Teti pyramid cemeteries at Saqqara, Meir and Beni Hassan.

Other interests

Honours and awards

Ancient History Documentary Research Centre (Macquarie University)

The Australian Centre for Egyptology: Reports

The Australian Centre for Egyptology: Studies

Other books