The author of this blog is Dr Sally-Ann Ashton. She has a BA in Ancient Greek from the University of Manchester, and has a BA (Hons) and MA in Classical Archaeology from King’s College London. She remained at King’s to undertake research for a PhD in Egyptian Archaeology. Her thesis was entitled ‘Ptolemaic royal sculpture from Egypt: The Greek and Egyptian styles and their interaction’.
During this time she worked as a researcher in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities at The British Museum in London and later as co-curator for the special exhibition: ‘Cleopatra of Egypt: from history to myth’. Sally-Ann then moved to the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, University College London as a researcher. She was then appointed as Senior Assistant Keeper in the Department of Antiquities at the Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge with curatorial responsibility for Ancient Egypt and Sudan. She held this position until 2015 when she left to study for a second PhD in Psychology. Since then, she has worked in her new field as a Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor and is currently a Research Scientist.
In addition to publishing numerous books and articles on a wide range of subjects relating to Ancient Egyptian and Sudanese cultures, Sally-Ann has undertaken archaeological and anthropological fieldwork in Egypt, Sudan, Libya, Greece, Italy and the Caribbean. Her last project at Cambridge was the history of African hair combs. She is currently writing a new book on Cleopatra.