Dr. Shaw studied archaeology at the University of Liverpool from 1999 - 2002, and then stayed on in Liverpool to study for an MA (2002 – 2003) and PhD (2004 – 2008) in Egyptology, only taking a year off to go explore China. His main area of research has been elite life and architecture in Egypt’s New Kingdom, with the extent of the pharaoh’s personal authority in day-to-day political affairs being the subject of his first book, published in 2008. Subsequently he has written academic articles on palace terminology and on reconstructing the events of King Seqenenre Tao’s death – a king normally cited as having been assassinated in the palace or killed in battle. Currently, just to shake things up a bit, he is researching Predynastic cosmetic palettes.
