Robert Morkot

Robert George Morkot, FSA (October 1957 – 21 October 2025) was a British archaeologist and academic, specialising in Ancient Egypt. He was a Senior Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Exeter. His research focused on the external relations of Ancient Egypt, particularly the relations with Kush (Sudan). He also worked on the historiography of Ancient Egypt.

Biography Morkot worked at the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology before completing a PhD at University College London (1983–1987) on the relations of Egypt with Kush between 1500 and 700 BC. He was a Fellow at the Oriental Institute, Oxford from 1987 to 1991 and taught at The City University and the University of Surrey before he joined the University of Exeter in 1996.

Morkot contributed to the 1991 book Centuries of Darkness, edited by Peter James. The book, questioning the conventional Egyptian chronology, caused a stir in the academic community and beyond; its thesis remains controversial.

Death Morkot died of terminal cancer on 21 October 2025.

Books

The Egyptians: An Introduction. Routledge, 2005. Historical Dictionary of Ancient Egyptian Warfare, The Scarecrow Press, 2003. Ancient Egypt and the Middle East, Dorling Kindersley Publishing, 2001. The Empires of Ancient Egypt, BBC Books, 2001. The Black Pharaohs: Egypt's Nubian Rulers, The Rubicon Press, 2000. The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Greece, Penguin Press, 1996 Centuries of Darkness: A Challenge to the Conventional Chronology of Old World Archaeology, with P.J. James (ed), I.J. Thorpe, N. Kokkinos and J.A. Frankish. London: Jonathan Cape, 1991, Collins Illustrated Guide to Egypt, HarperCollins, 1989.