Publication Showcase: CACHE ECR Affiliate John Burn explores climate change in ancient Egypt

Congratulations to Dr John Burn, CACHE Early Career Research Affiliate, on the publication of his monograph A river in ‘drought’?: Environment and cultural ramifications of Old Kingdom climate change, (BAR Publishing, 2021). The book, based on John’s 2019 PhD thesis, approaches the long-standing discussion of environmental change around the end of the Old Kingdom period (c. 2686–2181 CE) through the evidence of tomb wall scenes. By linking details of these depictions of Egypt’s riverine habitat to possible ecological indicators for drought, John proposes the development of an ‘environmental narrative’ in tomb art, a cultural response to the climactic changes of the time.

John’s research integrates his background in both environmental sciences and ancient Egyptian art. He completed a Bachelor of Science at Wollongong University in Sydney in 1983 and a Master of Arts in Egyptology at Macquarie University in 2008, while also working as a secondary school teacher. Since 2007, John has also participated in Macquarie’s archaeological projects at the necropoleis of Saqqara and Meir in Egypt. John has produced several articles, chapters, and conference papers on the ancient Egyptian environment, including “Climate change, fishing and the Nile: Changes in fishing techniques and technologies at the end of the Old Kingdom” in Profane landscapes, Sacred spaces, ed. M. Barta & J. Janek (Equinox Publishing, 2020). His current research focuses on the possible link between environmental change and new trends in aquaculture seen in tomb art, to be published in the upcoming volume Abusir and Saqqara in the Year 2020, ed. F. Coppens, J. Krejci & M. Barta (Charles University, Prague).

For more information on John’s work, see his profiles on Academia and LinkedIn.