Abeer Eladany

Abeer Eladany FSAScot is a Cairo born Egyptologist and archaeologist. She has a particular interest in human remains, the history of Egyptology and museology with a particular focus on ethics and repatriation and making museum collections accessible. She is known for her work in Egyptology, particularly for finding a fragment of wood from Great Pyramid of Giza in the University of Aberdeen's collection in 2021.

In 2015 Eladany gained a MLitt in museum studies from the University of Aberdeen. She has been involved in a wide range of volunteer and trustee work including community projects, locality planning, and heritage groups in the UK. She is a member of the Empire, Slavery & Scotland's Museums Steering Group to address how Scotland's museums can represent a more accurate portrayal of the country's history of colonialism and slavery. The Steering Group was formed following a motion in the Scottish Parliament in 2020 and published six recommendations in 2022 which were subsequently accepted by the Scottish Government.

Eladany is a trustee of the Museums Galleries Scotland, and a board member of the Egypt Exploration Society.

She is a supporter of Mesolithic Deeside, a group of archaeology students and local volunteers who focus on investigating the Mesolithic history of the area surrounding the River Dee. Eladany periodically joins them for their fieldwalking events, supports their public engagement and outreach events, and curates their temporary exhibitions. In 2001 a record was found that indicated that one of three items taken from inside the Great Pyramid of Giza, "a five-inch piece of cedar", had been donated to the University of Aberdeen by Grant's daughter in 1946.

In 2018 Eladany was asked to be part of team to conduct a review of the university's collection of Asian art. During this survey she and Christina MacKenzie found a small cigar box with old Egyptian flag on it. The box had an old serial number that did not match the serial number in the Asian collection. When cross-referenced with other records, the serial number matched the serial number of the cedar fragment in the Egyptian collection.

Selected publications