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Dr. Maarten J. Raven

Curator collection Egypt

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Maarten J. Raven (1953) studied Egyptian Languages and Literature, History of Art and Archaeology at the University of Leiden. Since 1975, he performs fieldwork at Saqqara (Egypt). He is particularly interested in the art and material culture of the New Kingdom and the Late Period, in iconography, magic and symbolism, and in Egyptomania and the rediscovery of Ancient Egypt. Raven wrote his dissertation on aspects of funerary symbolism (Symbols of resurrection: three studies in ancient  Egyptian iconography, 1984). He published many articles, catalogues and monographs on material culture, the Leiden collection and fieldwork in Saqqara.

Besides his appointment as curator, Raven is active as board member of various institutions in the field of museums and Egyptology. He also teaches occasionally as guest lecturer at the University of Leiden.

Expertise

• Art and material culture of Ancient Egypt and Nubia
• Egyptomania and the history of Egyptology

Representative publications  

• The tomb of Iurudef, a Memphite official in the reign of Ramesses II (57th Excavation Memoir, Leiden/Londen, 1991)
• The tomb of Maya and Meryt, II: objects and skeletal remains (65th Excavation Memoir, Leiden/Londen 2001)
• J.H. Insinger (ingeleid en geannoteerd door M.J. Raven), In het land der Nijlcataracten (1883), (MVEOL 34, Leuven/Leiden 2004)
• (with W.K. Taconis) Egyptian mummies, radiological atlas of the collections in the National Museum of Antiquities at Leiden (PALMA Egyptology 1, Turnhout, 2005)
• The tomb of Pay and Raia at Saqqara (74th Excavation Memoir, Leiden/Londen, 2005).

Key research projects

• The collection of Egyptian bronzes of the National Museum of Antiquities (1984-present)
• The collection of Egyptian mummies of the National Museum of Antiquities, a joint venture between the National Museum of Antiquities and the Amsterdam Medical Centre (1997-2005)
• The Dutch contribution towards the rediscovery of Ancient Egypt (Testas, Insinger) (1985-present)
• Excavations in the New Kingdom necropolis at Sakkara (Egypt), a joint venture of the National Museum of Antiquities and the Egypt Exploration Society (1975-1998) and the National Museum of Antiquities and the University of Leiden (1999-present)

Representative exhibitions

• Papyrus, from rush to scroll (Leiden, 1982)
• Willem de Famars Testas, Egyptian travel impressions (Leiden, 1988)
• Mummies under the knife (Leiden, 1993)
• Anchhor the mummy (Leiden, 2005)
• Beneath the Sands of Time (Leiden, 2007)

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