The 99%: life and death of commoners in ancient Egypt
Zoom online Lecture
Date: Saturday 10th January 2026 at 2.00 pm
By Professor Richard Bussmann
Cost: Free for Members and £4 Visitors
Online via Zoom - booking opens nearer the date
Abstract
Ancient Egypt is best known for its monuments, exquisite works of art, and rich textual heritage. While these sources remain fundamental to understanding Egyptian society, a growing number of socially sensitive Egyptologists are criticizing the elitist perspective of the preserved documentation and, by extension, the representations of ancient Egypt based on it. Recent developments in the discipline demonstrate a growing interest in translating these criticisms into alternative approaches to the study of Egypt.
This lecture explores the possibilities of investigating the 99% of the population that was excluded from access to knowledge and objects of prestige. In dialogue with subaltern studies, it is argued that ideas and practices may vary within society but are not distributed according to clearly distinct social groups. The starting point for this broader reflection is represented by the material from the excavations at Zawyet Sultan, in Middle Egypt.
Biography
Richard Bussmann studied Egyptology, Assyriology and Theology at the universities of Heidelberg, Berlin and Göttingen, obtaining his doctorate in 2007 from the Freie Universität in Berlin. From 2010 to 2016 he was a lecturer in Egyptology and Egyptian Archaeology at University College London. Since 2016 he has been a full professor of Egyptology at the University of Cologne. Bussmann is co-director of the archaeological mission at Zawyet Sultan, in Middle Egypt. He is president of the Verband der Ägyptologie and Secretary General of the International Association of Egyptologists. His research interests include ancient Egyptian archaeology and society, comparative approaches to early complex societies, urbanization in Northeast Africa, and archaeological theory. His recent book The Archaeology of Pharaonic Egypt: Society and Culture 2700 to 1700 BC (2023) offers a theoretically informed synthesis of the Old and Middle Kingdoms. Professor Bussmann has recently been awarded an ERC Advanced Research grant for a 5 year project starting in January 2026 to study the organization of social inequality in ancient Egypt. https://www.uni-koeln.de/en/university/news/news/press-releases/single-news/erc-advanced-grant-for-egyptologist
