The Cost of Death: The Social and Economic Value of Ancient Egyptian Funerary Art in the Ramesside Period

Dr Kara Cooney (real name Kathryn M. Cooney) is an Egyptologist and Assistant Professor of Egyptian Art and Architecture at Los Angeles' UCLA. She has also penned several books on the beliefs and economies of Ancient Egypt, and has presented successful documentary shows for Discovery. During her career she has worked on a series of high-profile expeditions to Deir el-Medina, Dashur and Thebes, where she has explored many elite tombs.

Born in Houston, Texas, Cooney completed her PhD in Near Eastern Studies at John Hopkins University, Baltimore in 2002, and has also taught at Stanford University, California and Howard University, Washington D.C. She was curator of Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs when it visited Los Angeles County Museum for Art in 2005, and also played a pivotal role in Cairo Museum's Quest for Immortality: Treasures of Ancient Egypt.