Geoffrey Thorndike Martin

Biography

Martin was born in London. He attended school at Aveley and then Palmer's School in Grays in London. Martin received a BA in Ancient History from University College London in 1963. He obtained an MA from Cambridge University in 1966 and became a Lady Wallis Budge Research Fellow at Christ's College, Cambridge, a post which he held until 1970.

After obtaining a PhD in 1969, Martin became a lecturer in Egyptology at University College London, a Reader from 1978 and Edwards Professor of Egyptology from 1988 until retirement in 1993.

Martin's fieldwork includes numerous locations in Egypt. He was exploring with the Egypt Exploration Society at Buhen in 1963. With the EES and Leiden Museum and University of Amsterdam he was exploring at Saqqara from 1964-68, from 1970-1974 as site director, and from 1975 to 1998 as field director. He was field director for the Amarna Epigraphic Mission of the Egypt Exploration Society in 1969 and 1980. From 1998 till 2002 he worked under Nicholas Reeves, Project Director, as Joint Field Director of the Amarna Royal Tombs Project.

Work

Martin is most famous for his discoveries of the tomb of Maya, Tutankhamun's treasurer and the private tomb of Horemheb[1][2] but also more generally for his work in the Valley of the Kings and Saqqara.

The discoveries in Saqqara include Tia, Ramesses the Great's sister and other dignitaries.

Main Publications

1. 'Egyptian Administrative and Private-name Seals' (Oxford, 1971)
2. 'The Royal Tomb at El-Amarna', I-II (London, 1974, 1989)
3. 'The Tomb of Hetepka' (London, 1979)
4. 'The Sacred Animal Necropolis at North Saqqara' (London, 1981)
5. 'Canopic Equipment in the Petrie Museum' (Warminster, 1984) (with Vivien Raisman)
6. 'Scarabs, Cylinders and other Egyptian Seals' (Warminster, 1985)
7. 'The Tomb Chapels of Paser and Raia' (London, 1985)
8. 'Corpus of Reliefs of the New Kingdom', I (London, 1987)
9. 'Excavations in the Royal Necropolis at El-Amarna' (Cairo, 1987) (with Aly El-Khouly)
10. 'The Memphite Tomb of Horemheb', I, (London, 1989)
11. 'The Hidden Tombs of Memphis' (London, 1991)
12. 'Bibliography of the Amarna Period and its Aftermath' (London, 1991)
13. 'The Tomb of Tia and Tia' (London, 1997)
14. 'Stelae from Egypt and Nubia in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, C. 3000 BC-AD 1150' (Fitzwilliam Museum Publications, 2005)