Joann Fletcher


Joann Fletcher is an Egyptologist and an honorary visiting professor in the department of archaeology at the University of York. She has published a number of books and academic articles, including on Cleopatra, and made numerous television and radio appearances. In 2003 she controversially claimed to have identified the mummy of Queen Nefertiti.

Early life and education

Fletcher was born on 30 August 1966 in Barnsley. She was educated at Barnsley College, a sixth form and further education college in Barnsley. She studied ancient history and Egyptology at University College London, specialising in the Ptolemaic dynasty and Cleopatra, and also in ancient Egyptian hair, wigs, and forms of adornment.
She was graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in 1987. Her doctor of philosophy degree was undertaken at the University of Manchester. Her doctoral thesis was on hair and wigs; it was entitled "Ancient Egyptian Hair: a study in style, form and function". Her PhD was completed in 1996.

Career

Currently, Fletcher is honorary visiting professor in the Department of Archaeology at the University of York and She is also consultant Egyptologist for Harrogate Museums and Arts and archaeology consultant for the museums of Wigan and for Barnsley for whom she curated a trio of exhibitions in 2017-2018.
In addition she has contributed to the galleries at the National Museum of Ireland, the Great North Museum in Newcastle. Sheffield’s Weston Park Museum and Scarborough’s Rotunda Museum, to the Burrell Collection in Glasgow, and a series of mummification exhibitions at Bolton, Burnley, Warrington and Hull & East Riding museums, also contributing to Leiden's Rijksmuseum as part of their 1994 exhibition 'Clothing of the Pharaohs'.In 2012 she and Dr. Stephen Buckley, having worked with Sheffield’s Medico-Legal Centre to mummify a human body donor, continued this long-term project with the Gordon Museum of Pathology at King’s College London where the body is now housed, in line with the wishes of the individual and his family.
Fletcher designed the first UK GCSE equivalent qualification in Egyptology on behalf of the government education body ABC Centra in 2003 but the program ended in 2008. She is co-founder of the York University Mummy Research Group, with whom she has studied human remains from South America, Yemen, Italy, Ireland, the Canary Islands, and Egypt, including the royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings. She has undertaken excavation work in Egypt, Yemen, and the UK, and has examined mummies both on-site and in collections around the world.
Fletcher writes for The Guardian newspaper and the BBC History Magazine and Web site and has made numerous appearances on television and radio. She was lead investigator and series consultant in the History Channel series Mummy Forensics, was at the centre of Mummifying Alan: Egypt's Last Secret, a documentary for Channel 4 and Discovery, the subject of a long-term project she initiated with Dr. Stephen Buckley that rewrites current understanding of mummification. As part of this documentary she won the 2011 Royal Television Society Award for Science and Natural History, the BAFTA Award for Specialist Factual programme and an AIB 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 received the Freedom of the Borough of Barnsley for exceptional service to the Borough
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 University of York, including the forensic anthropologist Don Brothwell, took part in an expedition to the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, sanctioned by Dr Zahi Hawass, then head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities,http://www.york.ac.uk/archaeology/staff/research-staff/stephen-buckley/#research" where the hypothesis was put forward by Fletcher that one of the three mummies studied could be the mummified body of Queen Nefertiti, all three mummified bodies being found among a cache of mummies in tomb KV35 in 1898. This followed the team's scientific findings, 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, which also produced a documentary on the findings.
Fletcher's conclusions have been dismissed by the majority of Egyptologists, and that evidence used to support Fletcher's theories is insufficient, circumstantial, and inconclusive. Archaeology, a publication of the Archaeological Institute of America, considered that Fletcher's "identification of the mummy in question as Nefertiti is balderdash". 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:
According to The Times newspaper, British archaeologists have "leapt to her defence", however, and the research team members stand by their findings.
The team members maintain 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 Hawass also was informed of what was to be put forward in the television programme prior to the Discovery Channel documentary being aired. Now others, including a fierce critic at the time, agree with Professor Fletcher’s original identification.
Fletcher got the Hawass ban lifted and was working again in the Valley of the Kings in April 2008.

Television and radio appearances

  • 1991: Midweek, BBC Radio 4
  • 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.
  • 1999: Face of the Pharaoh, MBC/National Geographic
  • 1999: Midweek, BBC Radio 4
  • 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, 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
  • 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
  • 2006: Timewatch: Bog Bodies, BBC
  • 2006: The Mummies of Hull Museum, BBC Look North
  • 2006: The Bog Bodies of Ireland, 60 Minutes News, Australia
  • 2007: My Yorkshire, ITV Yorkshire
  • 2008: Mummy Forensics, 6 part series, History Channel
  • 2008: Cleopatra the Great, BBC Radio York morning show
  • 2010: ‘A History of the World in a Hundred Objects’: the Anubis Mask, the Inlaid Eye, BBC Radio York
  • 2011: Mummifying Alan: Egypt’s Last Secret, Blink/Channel 4/Discovery
  • 2012: ‘Death Cult: Bog Bodies of Ireland’ series WAG TV for National Geographic Channel
  • 2013: Ancient Egypt: Life and Death in the Valley of the Kings, BBC/Lion TV.
  • 2013: Life & Death in the Valley of the Kings, BBC Learning Zone/Lion TV
  • 2013: Radio 5 Live with Richard Bacon, BBC Radio 5
  • 2013: Woman’s Hour, BBC Radio 4
  • 2013: Barnsley Museum Opening, Look North & BBC Radio Sheffield 27.6.13
  • 2013: ‘Museum of Curiosity’, Episode 1 of series 6, BBC Radio 4
  • 2014: Egypt's Lost Queens, BBC/Lion TV
  • 2014: Woman’s Hour, BBC Radio 4
  • 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
  • 2015: Midweek, BBC Radio 4
  • 2015: Radio 4 in Four: Most Popular, BBC Radio 4
  • 2015: Symbols & Secrets, The Forum, BBC World Service
  • 2016: Immortal Egypt with Joann Fletcher, BBC/Lion TV
  • 2016: A Good Read, BBC Radio 4
  • 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, KM
  • 2018: ‘BBC Civilisations Festival in South Yorkshire’, BBC Radio Sheffield
  • 2018: BBC Civilisations festival, The Star
  • 2018: ‘Bolton’s Egypt: new museum galleries’, BBC 1 North-West Tonight
  • 2019: Egypt’s Unexplained Files, Discovery Science
  • 2020: PM Show,'' BBC Radio 4

    Selected Publications

  • 1990: 'The Nit-Picking Pharaohs', New Scientist, No.1718, p. 24
  • 1992: 'Give Mummy a Wave: the Egyptian way to style hair', Hairdressers’ Journal International, Vol. 109, No. 5677, p. 16–17
  • 1994: ‘A Tale of Wigs, Hair and Lice’, Egyptian Archaeology 5, p. 31-33
  • 1994: 'Wigs and Hairdressing, Cosmetics and Bodycare', in Clothing of the Pharaohs, De Bataafsche Leeuw, Leiden, p. 103-111, p. 126-138
  • 1995: Ancient Egyptian Hair: a study in style, form and function, PhD thesis, University of Manchester
  • 1997: 'The Tattooed Mummies of Ancient Egypt', NILE Offerings I, September 1997, p. 28–30
  • 1998: 'Oils and Perfumes in Ancient Egypt', British Museum Press, London
  • 1998: ‘The Human Hair from the Tomb of Tutankhamen: A Re-evaluation’ Proceedings of the Seventh International Congress of Egyptologists, Peeters, Leuven, p. 403-407
  • 1998: 'Dance in Ancient Egypt', NILE Offerings, 2–3, p. 35–39, 33-37.
  • 1999: Ancient Egypt: Art, Myth and Life, DBP London/New York
  • 1999: Treasure Trove of an Ancient Egyptian Child, Working White, High Wycombe.
  • 1999: ‘The Wig & Wig Box’ in Tutankhamun’s Wardrobe: garments from the tomb of Tutankhamun,, van Doorn & Co. Rotterdam, p. 67-68
  • 2000: Egypt’s Sun King: Amenhotep III, DBP, London
  • 2000: Chronicle of a Pharaoh: the Intimate Life of Amenhotep III, Oxford University Press, New York.
  • 2000: ‘Hair’ in Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technology, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, p. 495-501.
  • 2000: 'Strange Tales of Egyptian Hair', Egypt Revealed, 1, Fall, p. 36–41
  • 2000: ‘Only Tomb can Tell: the enigma of KV.39’, The Guardian, p. 3
  • 2000: 'Garments Fit for a King', The Guardian,, p. 12–13, http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/science/story/0,3605,352411,00.html
  • 2001: Alexander the Great: Son of the Gods, DBP, London
  • 2001: Son of the Gods: Alexander the Great, DBP, London
  • 2001: 'Ancient Egypt' sections in National Geographic Guide to Egypt and Dorling Kindersley’s Eyewitness Travel Guide
  • 2001: The Year that made York, The Guardian, p. 3
  • 2001: 'Egypt From Warrior Women to Female Pharaohs: careers for women in ancient Egypt', BBC History, http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/egyptians/women_01.shtml
  • 2001: ‘From Chile to China, Qilakitsoq to the Canary Islands: Mummies around the World’ BBC History
  • 2001: : ‘Ways to Keep Mum: ancient Egyptian mummification’, Guardian, p. 15
  • 2002: The Egyptian Book of Living and Dying, DBP London
  • 2002: 'Ancient Egypt' section, Lonely Planet Guide to Egypt, Melbourne
  • 2002: ‘Ancient Egyptian Wigs & Hairstyles’, The Ostracon: Journal of the Egyptian Study Society 13/2, p. 2-8
  • 2002: 'Unmasking the Gods', The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/Archive/Article/0,4273,4364378,00.html
  • 2003: consultant, Exploring Ancient Civilisations Encyclopaedia, White-Thomson, Brighton
  • 2004: The Search for Nefertiti, Hodder & Stoughton, London
  • 2004: The Search for Nefertiti, HarperCollins, New York
  • 2004: 'Mummies and Mummification,Body Art and Tattooing', 'Clothing', 'Shoes and Wigs', 'Cosmetics and Perfumes', in The Seventy Great Inventions of the Ancient World, Thames & Hudson, London, p. 264–288
  • 2005: 'The Decorated Body in Ancient Egypt: hairstyles, cosmetics and tattoos', in The Clothed Body in the Ancient World,, Oxford, p. 3–13
  • 2005: Egypt, Ancient Civilizations: Illustrated Guide to Belief, Mythology and Art, DBP, London, p. 10–55
  • 2006: ‘Edward Heron-Allen, his friends and their mummies: EH-A and Ancient Egypt’, in Proceedings of 5th Heron-Allen Symposium 2005: Opusculum VIII, p. 17-44
  • 2006: 'Playing Games with Ancient Egypt', BBC History, http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/egyptians/death_sakkara_gallery.shtml
  • 2007: Le Roi-Soleil de l’Egypte, L’Acropole, Paris
  • 2007:‘A Preliminary Study on the Materials Employed in Ancient Yemeni Mummification and Burial Practices’, Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 37, Archaeopress, p. 37-41
  • 2007: 'Tattoos: The Ancient and Mysterious History', The Smithsonian Magazine, http://www.smithsonianmagazine.com/issues/2007/january/tattoo.php
  • 2007: 'Who was Cleopatra?' The Smithsonian Magazine, http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/cleopatra.html
  • 2008: Cleopatra the Great, Hodder & Stoughton, London
  • 2009: 'The Heron-Allen Collection of Egyptian Scarabs', in Proceedings of 8th Heron-Allen Symposium 2008: Opusculum XII, p. 14–29
  • 2009: Egipt: Zycie legendy sztuka, Swiat Ksiazki, Warsaw
  • 2010: Ancient Egypt: Art, Myth and Life
  • 2011: Cleopatra the Great, HarperCollins, New York
  • 2011: 'Revisiting the Amarna Royals: Part 1', Shemu: the Egyptian Society of South Africa, vol. 15, no. 4, p. 1–3
  • 2011: ‘Mummies, Coffins and a Forgotten Pharaoh’, Antiquity 85, p. 1471–1475
  • 2013: The Search for Nefertiti, revised edition
  • 2013: Women in Ancient Egypt, The Guardian
  • 2013: An Interdisciplinary Study of the Mummified Remains of the 18th Dynasty Official Nebiri, PalArch Journal of Archaeology of Egypt 10, p. 22
  • 2014: The Female Kings of Ancient Egypt, BBC History Magazine, p. 47-50
  • 2014: What happened to the missing mummies of Egypt's lost queens? Telegraph
  • 2015: The Story of Egypt, Hodder & Stoughton, London
  • 2015: ‘The Most Democratic Form of Adornment: Hair & Wigs in Ancient Egypt’, El-Rawi: Egypt’s Heritage Review, p. 66-71
  • 2015: ‘Ancient Egypt: the Big Questions’, BBC History Magazine, p. 56-59
  • 2015: ‘Shedding New Light on the 18th Dynasty Mummies of the Royal Architect Kha and his Spouse Merit’, PLoS ONE 10 e0131916
  • 2016: The Story of Egypt: The Civilization that Shaped the World, Pegasus Books, New York.
  • 2016: 'An Ancient Egyptian Wig: Construction and Reconstruction', Internet Archaeology 42, https://dx.doi.org/10.11141/ia.42.6.3
  • 2016: 'The Hair and Wig of Meryt: Grooming in the 18th Dynasty', Internet Archaeology 42, https://dx.doi.org/10.11141/ia.42.6.4
  • 2016: 'The Egyptian Hair Pin: practical, sacred, fatal', Internet Archaeology 42, https://dx.doi.org/10.11141/ia.42.6.5
  • 2016: ‘The Gods of Ancient Egypt’, All About History , p. 58-65
  • 2016: ‘New Tombs in the Valley of the Kings’, BBC History Magazine, p. 93
  • 2016: The Big Questions, BBC History Magazine, p. 53
  • 2016: ‘What was history’s most dramatic year? 30 BC’, BBC History Magazine, p. 32
  • 2016: ‘Queen Nefertari, the Royal Spouse of Pharaoh Ramses II: a Multidisciplinary Investigation of the Mummified Remains Found in Her Tomb ’, PLoS ONE 11: e0166571, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0166571
  • 2017: ‘50 Decisions that Changed the World’, History Revealed, p. 22
  • 2018: ‘Cleopatra: Last of the Pharaohs’, BBC World Histories, p. 50-55
  • 2018: ‘Gold Coffin Face: Museum of the World’, BBC World Histories, p. 98
  • 2018: ‘100 Women who Changed the World’, BBC History Magazine, p. 61
  • 2019: ‘Tutankhamun Unmasked’, BBC History Magazine, p. 22-28 & cover
  • 2020: ‘Amenhotep III: the Greatest Leader in World History’, BBC World Histories , p. 45
  • 2020: ‘Life and Death in Ancient Egypt’, BBC History Revealed, p. 28-39 & cover
  • 2020: ‘Synthesis of a Vocal Sound from the 3,000 year old Mummy, Nesyamun ‘True of Voice’’, Scientific Reports 10