Welcome to the Amarna Project
The ancient Egyptian city of Akhetaten (modern Amarna) was the short-lived capital built by the pharaoh Akhenaten and abandoned shortly after his death (c. 1332 BCE). Here, Akhenaten pursued his vision of a society dedicated to the cult of one god, the power of the sun (the Aten). Amarna is also the best preserved and most accessible city from ancient Egypt. It offers the key to understanding a unique chapter in the history of religious experience, and of what it was like to be an ancient Egyptian. The Amarna Project (British Mission to Tell el-Amarna) works, with the permission of the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism & Antiquities, to:
- Safeguard Amarna through preservation, protection and outreach programs.
- Support researchers and the wider community, locally and internationally, through the creation of public, educational and academic resources, and opportunities for collaboration and engagement.
- Further knowledge of Akhenaten, his city and its people, and of Amarna as a contemporary heritage site.
Amarna Future Fund
Help us carry forward research & recognise the career of the late Prof. Barry Kemp. The Amarna Future Fund will support our Cairo Office & the Expedition House at Amarna for 10 years.
MATCHED FUNDING CHALLENGE : USD 50,000 / GBP 36,000 has been pledged as matched funding for our campaign. Help us raise an extra USD 50,000 / GBP 36,000 to secure this pledge & double the impact of your gift:
Latest news
In the field
The Amarna Project was back in the field through April and May 2025. In the dig house, the team studied materials from the Great Aten Temple, cemeteries, housing areas, Maru Aten and the Workmen’s Village.
On site, our focus was on re-clearing and re-recording the house of vizier Nakht, first excavated in 1922 and now heavily threatened by illegal encroachment. This work forms part of a wider survey of houses excavated in the early 1900s, funded by the American Research Center in Egypt. Stay tuned for an update on the work in the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology.
New research article
… the authors present the identification of a bone whistle recovered from the Eighteenth Dynasty (late 14th century bc) city of Akhetaten (modern Amarna), Middle Egypt. …. this object is the first of its kind identified in a dynastic context and demonstrates the potential insights that wait to be gained from intensive examination of Egypt’s osseous technologies.
New monograph
This volume … will be of interest to all those working in the areas of craft activity and domestic space as well as to general readers wishing to learn more about the lives of the citizens of Akhetaten.
New research article
In the Oct. 2025 issue of the American Journal of Archaeology, Gretchen Dabbs and Anna Stevens review the long-standing question of whether Akhetaten was affected by an epidemic, centring the bio/archaeological evidence from Amarna’s cemeteries.
The paper – Mortality crisis at Akhetaten? Amarna and the bioarchaeology of the Late Bronze Age Mediterranean epidemic – is now available online, free and open access.
