The Temple of Tausret

Richard H. Wilkinson

The Temple of Tausret summarizes the University of Arizona Egyptian Expedition’s excavation of the monument built by Queen Tausret, one of the few women to rule ancient Egypt as pharaoh in all the thousands of years of Egyptian history. This project, conducted between 2004-2011, not only demonstrated that the temple site was only partially excavated in the nineteenth century by the great British archaeologist, Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie, but also that the belief that the temple was unfinished in ancient times is unfounded. The book looks at the often surprising evidence the Arizona excavations have recovered regarding both the history of the temple and the reign of this little known female pharaoh. Individual chapters cover all aspects of the excavation, as well as the artifacts, pottery, burials, human remains, and inscriptions discovered. The book includes over one hundred...