Photo by Maggie Bryson
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.
He has undertaken archaeological fieldwork in the UK, Turkey and Egypt, and is currently associated with the Roemer und Pelizaeus Museum, Hildesheim, mission to Qantir – the ancient New Kingdom capital of Pi-Ramesses. Since fall 2009 he has been teaching Egyptology at the American University in Cairo. Living in Egypt, he particularly enjoys being able to visit the pyramids or Egyptian Museum whenever he wants, without the pesky nuisance of plane travel getting in the way. Since moving to Egypt he has travelled extensively, and likes to describe the often fun/strange/rather scary things he encounters in order to inspire others to travel beyond the touristic areas of Luxor and Giza. His favourite pharaoh is Amenhotep II, and his favourite animal is the penguin.
