Joann Fletcher (born 30 August 1966) is an

Egyptologist Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , '' -logia''; ar, علم المصريات) is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religiou ...

and an honorary visiting professor in the department of archaeology at the

University of York The University of York (abbreviated as or ''York'' for post-nominals) is a collegiate research university, located in the city of York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thirty departments and centres, co ...

. She has published a number of books and academic articles, including several on

Cleopatra Cleopatra VII Philopator ( grc-gre, Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ}, "Cleopatra the father-beloved"; 69 BC10 August 30 BC) was Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC, and its last active ruler.She was also a ...

, and made numerous television and radio appearances. In 2003, she controversially claimed to have identified the

mummy A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not decay fu ...

of Queen

Nefertiti Neferneferuaten Nefertiti () ( – c. 1330 BC) was a queen of the 18th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, the great royal wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten. Nefertiti and her husband were known for a radical change in national religious policy, in which ...

Early life and education

Fletcher was born on 30 August 1966 in

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough ha ...

. She was educated at

Barnsley College Barnsley College is a further education college just outside the town centre of Barnsley, England. It has several campuses, including the SciTech Digital Innovation Centre and The Electric Theatre. The college provides A Levels, apprenticeshi ...

, a

sixth-form In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for A-lev ...

and

further education college Further education (often abbreviated FE) in the United Kingdom and Ireland is education in addition to that received at secondary school, that is distinct from the higher education (HE) offered in universities and other academic institutions. It ...

in Barnsley. She studied ancient history and Egyptology at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

, specializing in the

Ptolemaic dynasty The Ptolemaic dynasty (; grc, Πτολεμαῖοι, ''Ptolemaioi''), sometimes referred to as the Lagid dynasty (Λαγίδαι, ''Lagidae;'' after Ptolemy I's father, Lagus), was a Macedonian Greek royal dynasty which ruled the Ptolemaic ...

and

, and also in ancient Egyptian hair, wigs, and forms of adornment. She graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

(BA) degree in 1987. Her

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

(PhD) degree completed in 1996 was undertaken at the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The university owns and operates majo ...

, with the

thesis A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144 ...

on hair and wigs entitled "Ancient Egyptian Hair: a study in style, form, and function".

Career

Fletcher is honorary visiting professor in the Department of Archaeology at the University of York and Head of the Local Ambassador Programme at the

Egypt Exploration Society The Egypt Exploration Society (EES) is a British non-profit organization. The society was founded in 1882 by Amelia Edwards and Reginald Stuart Poole in order to examine and excavate in the areas of Egypt and Sudan. The intent was to study and ana ...

. She is a consultant Egyptologist for

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist destination and its visitor attractions include its spa ...

Museums and Arts and an archaeology consultant for the museums of Wigan and Barnsley, for which she curated a trio of exhibitions in 2017–2018. In addition, she has contributed to galleries at the National Museum of Ireland, the Great North Museum in

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

, Sheffield’s Weston Park Museum, and Scarborough’s Rotunda Museum, as well as having made contributions to the

Burrell Collection The Burrell Collection is a museum in Glasgow, Scotland, managed by Glasgow Museums. It houses the art collection of Sir William Burrell and Constance, Lady Burrell. The museum reopened on 29 March 2022 with free entry, having been closed for ...

in Glasgow, a series of

mummification A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not decay furt ...

exhibitions at

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish weavers settled in the area in the 14th ...

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Br ...

, Warrington, and Hull & East Riding museums, and she made contributions to

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration w ...

Rijksmuseum The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the ...

as part of their 1994 exhibition ''Clothing of the Pharaohs''. In 2012, she and Dr. Stephen Buckley worked with Sheffield's Medico-Legal Centre to mummify a human body donor. They continued this long-term project with the Gordon Museum of Pathology at King's College London, where the body is housed, in line with the wishes of the individual and his family. In 2003, Fletcher designed the first UK

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...

-equivalent qualification in

Egyptology Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , '' -logia''; ar, علم المصريات) is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native relig ...

on behalf of the government education body ABC Centra, a programme that ended in 2008. She is co-founder of the

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

University Mummy Research Group, with whom she has studied human remains from South America,

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the north and Oman to the northeast and ...

, Italy, Ireland,

the Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Moro ...

, and

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

, including the royal tombs in the

Valley of the Kings The Valley of the Kings ( ar, وادي الملوك ; Late Coptic: ), also known as the Valley of the Gates of the Kings ( ar, وادي أبوا الملوك ), is a valley in Egypt where, for a period of nearly 500 years from the 16th to 11th ...

. She has undertaken excavation work in Egypt,

, and the UK, and has examined mummies both on-site and in collections around the world. Fletcher writes for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' newspaper and the BBC ''History Magazine'' and website (including major input into their multimedia project "Death in Sakkara", which won the New Media Award in 2005) and has made numerous appearances on television and radio. She was lead investigator and series consultant in the

History Channel History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney ...

television series ''Mummy Forensics'', was at the centre of ''Mummifying Alan: Egypt's Last Secret'', a documentary for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

and

Discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discove ...

, the subject of a long-term project she initiated with Dr. Stephen Buckley that rewrote the current understanding of mummification. As part of this documentary she won the 2011

Royal Television Society The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...

Award for Science and Natural History, the BAFTA Award for Specialist Factual programme, and an AIB (Association for International Broadcasting) Award for Best Science programme. In 2015, she was the recipient of the prestigious ‘Surprise Award’ presented at the Proud of Barnsley Awards Ceremony and in 2016, she received the Freedom of the Borough of Barnsley for exceptional service to the Borough award. Her publications include The Story of Egypt, ''Cleopatra the Great'' and ''The Search for Nefertiti'', together with guidebooks, journal articles, and academic papers.

Queen Nefertiti

In 2003, Fletcher and a multidisciplinary scientific team from the

, including the forensic anthropologist,

Don Brothwell Donald Reginald Brothwell, (1933 – 26 September 2016) was a British archaeologist, anthropologist and academic, who specialised in human palaeoecology and environmental archaeology. He had worked at the University of Cambridge, the British Mus ...

, took part in an expedition to the

in Egypt that was sanctioned by

Zahi Hawass Zahi Abass Hawass ( ar, زاهي حواس; born May 28, 1947) is an Egyptian archaeologist, Egyptologist, and former Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs, serving twice. He has also worked at archaeological sites in the Nile Delta, the Wes ...

, then head of the

Supreme Council of Antiquities The Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) was a department of the Egyptian Ministry of Culture from 1994 to 2011. It was the government body responsible for the conservation, protection and regulation of all antiquities and archaeological excavati ...

(SCA). The investigation pursued a hypothesis put forward by Fletcher that one of the three mummies studied could be the mummified body of

Queen Nefertiti Neferneferuaten Nefertiti () ( – c. 1330 BC) was a queen of the 18th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, the great royal wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten. Nefertiti and her husband were known for a radical change in national religious policy, in which ...

. All three of the mummified bodies had been found among a cache of mummies in tomb

KV35 Tomb KV35 is the tomb of Pharaoh Amenhotep II located in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, Egypt. Later, it was used as a cache for other royal mummies. It was discovered by Victor Loret in March 1898. Layout and history It has a dog's leg shap ...

in 1898. The team's scientific findings supported this and the hypothesis was included in the official report submitted to Hawass and the SCA shortly after the 2003 expedition. The expedition, the result of 12 years of research, was funded by the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Chan ...

, which also produced a documentary on the findings. Fletcher's conclusions were dismissed by the majority of Egyptologists (some of whom previously claimed that the mummy in question was male who was young as fifteen years old, a theory now disproven), and the evidence used to support Fletcher's theories was declared as insufficient, circumstantial, and inconclusive. ''Archaeology'', a publication of the

Archaeological Institute of America The Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) is North America's oldest society and largest organization devoted to the world of archaeology. AIA professionals have carried out archaeological fieldwork around the world and AIA has established re ...

, asserted that Fletcher's "identification of the mummy in question as Nefertiti is balderdash".Mark Rose, "Where's Nefertiti?", ''Archaeology'', 16 September 2004. Zahi Hawass, head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, subsequently banned her from working in Egypt because he said "Dr. Fletcher has broken the rules." Hawass explained this action in an article in the newspaper ''Al-Ahram'': :"There are more than 300 foreign expeditions currently working in Egypt, and they all follow the same guidelines. We grant concessions to any scholar affiliate to a scientific or educational institution, and it has long been accepted code of ethics that any discovery made during excavations should first be reported to the SCA. By going first to the press with what might be considered a great discovery, Fletcher broke the bond made by York University with the Egyptian authorities. And by putting out in the popular media what is considered by most scholars to be an unsound theory, Fletcher has broken the rules and therefore, at least until we have reviewed the situation with her university, she must be banned from working in Egypt." According to ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'' newspaper, British archaeologists "leapt to her defence", however, and they reported that the research team members stood by their findings. The team members maintained that no rules were broken, on the basis that the official report submitted to the SCA included Fletcher's hypothesis, described by others as a 'discovery', and that Hawass had been informed of what was to be put forward in the television programme prior to the Discovery Channel documentary being aired. Soon, professional publications revealed that others, including a fierce critic at the time, agreed with Professor Fletcher’s original identification, and eventually, the Hawass ban was lifted. Fletcher resumed working in the

in April 2008.

Television and radio appearances

*1991: ''Midweek'' (Egyptian Hair and Cosmetics), BBC Radio 4 (21.2.91) *1998: ''Post-Mortem: Egypt Uncovered'', SC4/Discovery *1999: ''Mystery of the Mummies: Cave Mummies of the Canary Islands'', Union Pictures/Channel 4 *1999: ''Big Breakfast'' interview, Channel 4 (21.6.99) *1999: ''Face of the Pharaoh'', MBC/National Geographic *1999: ''Midweek'' (Mummies), BBC Radio 4 (9.6.99) *2000: ''Private Lives of the Pharaohs'', 3-part series, TV6/Channel 4 *2000: ''Face Values: the story of cosmetics'', Black Inc./Discovery *2000: ''The Oldest Mummies in the World: the Chinchorro'', Cicada/Discovery *2001: ''Terry Jones’ Hidden History of Egypt'', Seventh Art/BBC *2001: ''Terry Jones’ Surprising History of Sex and Love'', Seventh Art/BBC *2002: ''Who Murdered Tutankhamen: Revealed'', Atlantic/Discovery/Channel 5 *2002: ''The Immortals of Ancient Sheba: the Yemeni Mummies'', Juniper/National Geographic/Channel 4 *2002: ''The True Curse of the Mummy'', Stone City Films/Channel 5 *2002: ''Pyramid'' (interactive), BBC Digital Channel *2003: ''The Black Mummy of Libya'', Fulcrum/Channel 5 *2003: ''Nefertiti Revealed'', Atlantic/Discovery/Channel 5 *2003: ''Carvilius: the Mummy of Rome'', GA&A/National Geographic *2003: ''Ancient Egyptians'', WalltoWall/Channel 4 *2003: ''The Making of Ancient Egyptians'', WalltoWall/Channel 4 *2003: ''Everywoman'', World Service Radio (14.6.03) *2005: ''Death In Sakkara'', BBC Interactive *2005: ''The Myth, the Magic, and the Mummy’s Curse'', BBC Interactive Museum exhibition *2005: ''New research on the life and death of Irt-yruw'', Tyne-Tees news (16.11.05) *2006: ''Timewatch: Bog Bodies'', BBC *2006: ''The Mummies of Hull Museum'', BBC Look North (3.3.06) *2006: ''The Bog Bodies of Ireland'', 60 Minutes News, Australia (22.3.06) *2007: ''My Yorkshire'', ITV Yorkshire *2008: ''Mummy Forensics'', 6-part series (Lead Investigator and Series Consultant), History Channel *2008: ''Cleopatra the Great'', BBC Radio York morning show (14.5.08) *2010: ‘''A History of the World in a Hundred Objects’'': the Anubis Mask, the Inlaid Eye, BBC Radio York (18.1.10 7am, 24.1.10 11am, 16.2.10 10.45pm and 8.4.10 11am) (26.5.10) *2011: ''Mummifying Alan: Egypt’s Last Secret'', Blink/Channel 4/Discovery *2012: ''‘Death Cult: Bog Bodies of Ireland’'' (Ancient X Files) series WAG TV for National Geographic Channel *2013: ''Ancient Egypt: Life and Death in the Valley of the Kings (2-part series; Writer/Presenter)'', BBC/Lion TV. *2013: ''Life and Death in the Valley of the Kings'' (Writer/Presenter), BBC Learning Zone/Lion TV *2013: ''Radio 5 Live with Richard Bacon'' (2.15-3pm), BBC Radio 5 (26.2.13) *2013: ''Woman’s Hour'', BBC Radio 4 (22.3.13) *2013: Barnsley Museum Opening, Look North and BBC Radio Sheffield 27.6.13 *2013: "Museum of Curiosity", ''Episode 1 of series 6'', BBC Radio 4 (30.9.13) *2014: ''Egypt's Lost Queens'' (Writer/Presenter), BBC/Lion TV *2014: ''Woman’s Hour'', BBC Radio 4 (3.9.14) *2015: "Seventy Million Animal Mummies: Egypt’s Dark Secret", ''Horizon'', BBC2 *2015: The Amazing History of Egypt, ''BBC History Magazine'' podcast *2015: ''The Radio 2 Arts Show with Claudia Winkleman'', BBC Radio 2 (2.10.15) *2015: ''Midweek,'' BBC Radio 4 (21.10.15) *2015: ''Radio 4 in Four: Most Po Radio 4pular'', BBC Radio 4 *2015: ''Symbols and Secrets, The Forum'', BBC World Service (12.12.15) *2016: ''Immortal Egypt with Joann Fletcher'' (4-part series; Writer/Presenter), BBC/Lion TV *2016: ''A Good Read'', BBC Radio 4 (12.7.16) *2016: ''Tattoos in Africa'', Al-Jazeera Online *2017: Women in History Debate, ''BBC History Magazine'' podcast *2017: ''The Egypt Centre Museum of Egyptian Antiquities'', promotional video *2017: ''Professors at Play: Assassins Creed Origins'', internet broadcast (14.11), KM *2018: ‘BBC Civilisations Festival in South Yorkshire’, ''BBC Radio Sheffield'' (7.3.18) *2018: BBC Civilisations festival (with Margaret Mountford), ''The Star'' *2018: ‘Bolton’s Egypt: new museum galleries’, ''BBC 1 North-West Tonight'' (21.9.18) *2019: ''Egypt's Unexplained Files'' (10 part series), Discovery Science (360 Productions/Discovery) *2020: ''PM Show'', BBC Radio 4 (24.1.20) Fletcher is notable for her strong

Yorkshire accent The Yorkshire dialect (also known as Broad Yorkshire, Tyke, Yorkie or Yorkshire English) is a dialect of English, or continuum of dialects, spoken in the Yorkshire region of Northern England. The dialect has roots in Old English and is influen ...

. In a 2004 interview she said,: "I've even been criticised because I'm a female in my thirties and have a Barnsley accent, but then if you don't conform to the stereotype of a tweed-clad Egyptologist with the appearance of someone aged around 83, your work becomes the target for attack.''https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12419618.debate-of-the-age-resurrected-egyptologist-joann-fletcher-looks-to-have-unearthed-an-archaeological-triumph-with-the-discovery-of-the-body-of-a-controversial-queen-by-anne-simpson/

Selected works

* * * *

Notes and references

References

External links

(University of York staff page)
"No Discrimination"
– Article by

on Fletcher's Nefertiti claims and the media's reaction.
"King Tut tut tut"
(''Sunday Times'' article) *
Joann Fletcher profile
BBC, 24 September 2014. {{DEFAULTSORT:Fletcher, Joann 1966 births Academics of the University of York Alumni of the University of Manchester Alumni of University College London British archaeologists British Egyptologists British women archaeologists Living people People from Barnsley People from Scarborough, North Yorkshire