Nozomu Kawai

Affiliation: Institute for Frontier Science Initiative (concurrent appointment at Institute for the Study of Ancient Civilizations and Cultural Resources)
Job Class: Professor
Specialty: Egyptology, Egyptian Archaeology
*Kanazawa University

Research Topic

I have been working on the history and culture of Egypt's New Kingdom from archaeological and textual evidence, particularly the history and culture of the period from the late 19th Dynasty to the 19th Dynasty. I have participated in excavations of tombs from the New Kingdom at sites such as Thebes (present-day Luxor) and Saqqara. Recently, I have been conducting archaeological research on objects such as King Tutankhamun's chariot as part of the JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) Grand Egyptian Museum Joint Conservation and Restoration Project. I have also directed archaeological excavations at North Saqqara in order to reveal unknown New Kingdom cemeteries. In 2019, we discovered the first Greco-Roman catacomb at Saqqara. The most recent excavation in 2023 led to the discovery of dozens of tombs not only from the New Kingdom period, which was the initial objective of the project but also from the Early Dynastic, Late Dynastic, Ptolemaic, and Roman-dominated periods. Following this, we are working on the theme of the transformation of funerary culture in the Saqqara necropolis over 3,000 years.

Selected Publications

• Kawai, N. 2023. Neferneferuaten from the Tomb of Tutankhamun Revisited. In P. Lacovara (ed.), Wonderful Things: Essays in Honor of Nicholas Reeves, pp. 109-122. Lockwood Press.
• Kawai, N. 2023. The Lioness Goddess Statuary from the Rock-Cut Chambers at Northwest Saqqara and Their Cult in Middle Kingdom Egypt. In N. M. Brisch and F. Karahashi (eds.), Women and Religion in the Ancient Near East and Asia, pp. 303-338. Studies in Ancient Near Eastern Records 30. De Gruyter.
• Kawai, N. and D. Benedict, (eds.) 2022. The Star Who Appears in Thebes. Studies in Honour of Jiro Kondo, Abercromby Press.
• Kawai, N. 2022. Intact Simultaneous Multiple Burials on the Slope of an Outcropping in Northwest Saqqara. In N. Kawai and B. Davies (eds.), The Star Who Appears in Thebes. Studies in Honour of Jiro Kondo, pp.183-206. Abercromby Press.
• Kawai, N. 2022. The Time of Tutankhamun. What New Evidence Reveals. Scribe: The Magazine of the American Research Center in Egypt 9: 44-53.
• Kawai, N. 2021. A Newly Discovered Roman Catacomb at North Saqqara: Recent Results and Future Prospects. In M. Bárta, F. Coppens and J. Krejčí (eds.), Abusir and Saqqara in the Year 2020, pp. 331-346. Prague, Charles University.
• Kawai, N. 2021. Exploring the New Kingdom Tombs at North Saqqara: Preliminary Results of the Archaeological Survey at North Saqqara. The 2016 and 2017 Seasons. In M. Bárta, F. Coppens and J. Krejčí (eds.), Abusir and Saqqara in the Year 2020, pp. 245-262. Prague, Charles University.
• Kondo, J. and N. Kawai 2021. Japan. In A. Bednarski, A. Dodson and S. Ikram (eds.), A History of World Egyptology, pp. 439-447. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
• Kawai, N., Y. Okada, T. Oishi, M. Kagesawa, A. Nishisaka and H. Kamal 2020. The Ceremonial Canopied Chariot of Tutankhamun (JE61990 and JE60705): A Tentative Virtual Reconstruction. CIPEG Journal: Ancient Egyptian & Sudanese Collections and Museums 4: 1-11.