Salima Ikram

Ikram was born in Lahore, Pakistan in 1965. A visit to Egypt when she was nine led to her interest in Egyptology.[1][2]

Ikram studied Egyptology and archaeology at Bryn Mawr College, earning an AB. in Classical and Near Eastern archaeology and history.[3] Continuing her studies at the University of Cambridge, she earned her M.Phil. and PhD in Egyptology and Museum Studies.[3] Her PhD thesis was entitled 'Choice cuts: meat production in Ancient Egypt'.[4]

Ikram lives in Cairo and teaches Egyptology and Archaeology at the American University in Cairo, where she is Professor of Egyptology.[3] In 2017, Ikram was a visiting professor at Yale University for the fall term.[5] She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2017 as an international honorary member.[6][2]

Ikram is the co-director of the Animal Mummy Project at the Egyptian Museum.[7] Since 2001, she has directed, with Corinna Rossi, the North Kharga Oasis Survey (NKOS),[8][9] and directed the North Kharga Oasis Darb Ain Amur Survey and the Amenmesse Mission of KV10 and KV63 in the Valley of the Kings.[5] She has also worked with André Veldmeijer of the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo on the Ancient Egypt Leatherwork Project (AELP).[10][11]

Ikram has an active media presence, contributing to articles on Egyptology in Egypt Today and National Geographic.[12][13][14][15] She has also written for Kmt, a journal of modern Egyptology.[16][17] Ikram has appeared on documentary series and specials for PBS,[18] Channel 4,[19] Discovery Channel,[20] History Channel,[21] National Geographic Channel,[22] and the BBC.[23][24] She has also served as an advisor on the Universal Pictures movie The Mummy.

In 2018, Ikram participated in Tenerife (Spain), in the international congress "Athanatos. Inmortal. Muerte e inmortalidad en las poblaciones del pasado". During this congress there was an exhibition of mummies from different parts of the world, including the Guanche mummies of the ancient inhabitants of the island of Tenerife, with a technique similar to the Egyptian mummies.[25]

• Excellence in Research Award by The American University in Cairo (2006).[26]

• Choice Cuts: Meat Production in Ancient Egypt (Leuven: Peeters, 1995); ISBN 9068317458.
• Pyramids (Cairo: Zeitouna, 1995); ISBN 9774244648.
• Royal Mummies in the Egyptian Museum (with Aidan Dodson, Cairo: Zeitouna/American University in Cairo Press, 1997); ISBN 9774244311.
• The Mummy in Ancient Egypt: Equipping the Dead for Eternity (with Aidan Dodson, New York: Thames & Hudson/Cairo: AUC Press, 1998); ISBN 0500050880.
• 'Diet in: Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001); ISBN 9780195102345.
• Catalogue général of Egyptian antiquities in the Cairo Museum: 24048/24056, Non-human mummies (Cairo: Supreme Council of Antiquities Press, 2002); ISBN 9773052753.
• Death and Burial in Ancient Egypt (Longman, 2003); ISBN 0582772168
• Divine Creatures: Animal Mummies In Ancient Egypt (American University in Cairo Press, 2005); ISBN 9781936190010.
• The Tomb in Ancient Egypt: royal and private sepulchres from the early dynastic period to the Romans (with Aidan Dodson, London & New York: Thames & Hudson/Cairo: AUC Press, 2008); ISBN 9780500051399.
• 'Meat Processing' in Nicholson, P. and Shaw, I. Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009); ISBN 9780521120982.
• Egyptian Bioarchaeology: Humans, Animals, and the Environment (with Jessica Kaiser; Roxie Walker, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015); ISBN 9789088902888.

• Profile of Salima Ikram at the American University in Cairo Web site