Judith McKenzie (archaeologist)

Not to be confused with Judith Ann McKenzie (biogeochemist).

Judith McKenzie
copyright by Oxford Centre for Late Antiquity
Born28 November 1957
Canberra, Australia
Died27 May 2019 (aged 61)
Oxford, U.K.
OccupationArchaeologist
AwardsJames R. Wiseman Book Award
Academic background
Alma materUniversity of Sydney (BA, PhD)
ThesisThe Architecture of Petra
Academic work
InstitutionsFaculty of Classics, University of Oxford
Notable works
  • The Architecture Of Alexandria And Egypt 300 BC-AD 700
  • The Architecture of Petra

Judith Sheila McKenzie (28 November 1957[1] – 27 May 2019) was an Australian archaeologist whose work primarily focused on the architecture of the ancient Middle East. At the time of her death, McKenzie was Associate Professor of Late Antique Egypt and the Holy Land at the University of Oxford and Director of the Manar al-Athar project, an open-access image archive of the Middle East.[2][3] McKenzie was known in particular for her work on the architecture of Petra and Alexandria, having published lengthy monographs on each.

Education

McKenzie earnt her Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Sydney; during her BA McKenzie studied Archaeology as well as Chemistry, English and Ancient History.[3] She received her doctorate from the University of Sydney in 1985.[2] McKenzie's doctoral research examined the architectural history of Petra in Jordan; she first visited the site in 1981, and McKenzie spent extended periods living in a cave in Petra. A series of research assistants joined her in the field, including Angela Phippen.[4][5] After some revisions, McKenzie's thesis was published by Oxford University Press in 1990 as The Architecture of Petra.[3][6] It was reprinted in 1995 and 2005.[7]

Career

After completing her graduate studies, McKenzie took up residence in Oxford, becoming the Rhys-Davids Junior Research Fellow in 1987.[2][8] She held this position until 1990, when she became a British Academy Post-doctoral Research Fellow.[9][10]

Between 2000 and 2002, McKenzie was on the committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.[11] She was a Queen Elizabeth Fellow at the University of Sydney and a Fellow in Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey for the 2003–2004 academic year.[2][3]

From 2003, McKenzie directed the Khirbet et-Tannur Nabataean Temple Project.[12]

In the late 2000s, McKenzie visited Bir Zeit University in Palestine to give guest lectures. Her experience there, finding that students were unable to visit the sites she lectured on, led to the inception of the Manar al-Athar project.[11] McKenzie established the project in 2012 as an open access image archive of historic sites in the Middle East; she was its director until her death.[3][13][14][15]

McKenzie's 2007 book The Architecture Of Alexandria And Egypt was awarded the James R. Wiseman book award by the Archaeological Institute of America in 2010,[16] which described the monograph as a "a monumental accomplishment".[17] McKenzie's work had been instrumental in understanding how ancient architecture influences later buildings,[18][19] particularly the influence of the Pharos, the lighthouse of Alexandria.[20]

McKenzie worked on the Garima Gospels, publishing a volume on them with Francis Watson in 2016.[21] The book is the first to reproduce all the illuminated pages in colour. McKenzie also curated an exhibition on the gospels, The Hidden Gospels of Abba Garima, Treasures of the Ethiopian Highland, at the Ioannou Centre, Oxford in 2017.[22] In 2016, she received a European Research Council Advanced Grant for the project Monumental Art of the Christian and Early Islamic East: Cultural Identities and Classical Heritage.[23][24]

McKenzie died on 27 May 2019 at the age of 61.[25][26][27]

Selected publications

Scholia has an author profile for Judith McKenzie (archaeologist).

Books

  • 1990. The Architecture of Petra. Oxford University Press.
  • 2007. The Architecture of Alexandria and Egypt, 300 B.C.–A.D. 700. Pelican History of Art, Yale University Press.
  • 2013. J. McKenzie, J. Greene, A.T. Reyes, et al., The Nabataean Temple at Khirbet et-Tannur, Jordan, Volume 1. Architecture and Religion, Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research 67.[12]
  • 2013. J. McKenzie, J. Greene, A.T. Reyes, et al., The Nabataean Temple at Khirbet et-Tannur, Jordan, Volume 2. Cultic Offerings, Vessels, and Other Specialist Reports, Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research 68.[12]
  • 2016. Judith S. McKenzie and Francis Watson The Garima Gospels: Early Illuminated Gospel Books from Ethiopia (University of Exeter Press)[21]

Journal articles

References

  1. ^ "Judith McKenzie obituary". The Times. 9 July 2019. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 9 July 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d Walmsley, Alan (2019). "Obituary - Judith McKenzie 1957-2019". The Journal of the Council for British Research in the Levant. 51: 1–5. doi:10.1080/00758914.2020.1741886. S2CID 216489086.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Dr Judith McKenzie | Faculty of Classics". www.classics.ox.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 31 May 2019. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
  4. ^ Walmsley, Alan (2019). "Obituary - Judith McKenzie 1957-2019". The Journal of the Council for British Research in the Levant. 51: 2. doi:10.1080/00758914.2020.1741886. S2CID 216489086.
  5. ^ Reyes, Andres (2022). "Foreword". Life in a Cave in Petra with the Bdoul 1981–1986. Manar al-Athar Monograph. Vol. 6. Oxford: Manar al-Athar, University of Oxford. p. xvii. ISBN 978-0-9954946-9-5.
  6. ^ Yegul, Fikret K. (1 March 1993). "Review: The Architecture of Petra by Judith McKenzie". Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians. 52 (1): 95–97. doi:10.2307/990762. ISSN 0037-9808. JSTOR 990762.
  7. ^ McKenzie, Judith (2005). The architecture of Petra. Oxford; Oakville, CT: Oxbow Books; Distributed by the David Brown Book Co. ISBN 978-1-84217-164-6. OCLC 61157243.
  8. ^ McKenzie, J. (2014). Pauline Jewett : a Passion for Canada. McGill-Queen's University Press. pp. ix. ISBN 9780773567641. OCLC 951200761.
  9. ^ McKenzie, Judith (2010). The architecture of Alexandria and Egypt, c. 300 B.C. to A.D. 700. Yale University Press. pp. 459. ISBN 9780300115550. OCLC 873228274.
  10. ^ "McKenzie, Judith (Sheila) 1957- | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
  11. ^ a b McQuitty, Alison (2 April 2020). "Judith McKenzie 1957–2019". Palestine Exploration Quarterly. 152 (2): 81. doi:10.1080/00310328.2020.1769339. ISSN 0031-0328. S2CID 221051637.
  12. ^ a b c Nehmé, Laïla (2015). "Review of: The Nabataean Temple at Khirbet et-Tannur, Jordan. Volume 1: Architecture and Religion. Volume 2: Cultic Offerings, Vessels, and Other Specialist Reports. Final Report on Nelson Glueck's 1937 Excavation. Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 67-68". Bryn Mawr Classical Review. ISSN 1055-7660.
  13. ^ "Home الصفحة الرئيسية". www.manar-al-athar.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
  14. ^ "Author: Judith McKenzie". Apollo Magazine. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  15. ^ "Introducing the Manar al-Athar Open Access Photo Archive -". Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  16. ^ "The 111th Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America". American Journal of Archaeology. 114 (2): 347–351. 2010. doi:10.3764/aja.114.2.347. ISSN 0002-9114. JSTOR 25684280.
  17. ^ "James R. Wiseman Book Award". Archaeological Institute of America. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
  18. ^ Shenker, Jack (14 March 2016). "The story of cities, part 1: how Alexandria laid foundations for the modern world". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  19. ^ "Review of: ALEXANDRIA AND ALEXANDRINISM. Papers delivered at a Symposium Organized by the J. Paul Getty Museum and The Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities and Held at the Museum April 22-25, 1993". Bryn Mawr Classical Review. 1998. ISSN 1055-7660.
  20. ^ Cairo, Louisa Loveluck (8 May 2015). "Egypt to rebuild Lighthouse of Alexandria, once one of the Seven Wonders of the World". The Daily Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  21. ^ a b "The University of Exeter Press – The Garima Gospels". www.exeterpress.co.uk. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  22. ^ "Visions of paradise reveal unknown vistas of history | Oxford Today". www.oxfordtoday.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  23. ^ "Monumental Art of the Christian and Early Islamic East: Cultural Identities and Classical Heritage | Faculty of Classics". www.classics.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
  24. ^ "CORDIS | European Commission". cordis.europa.eu. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
  25. ^ McKenzie
  26. ^ "It is with regret that the Faculty of Classics announces the passing of Dr Judith McKenzie | Faculty of Classics". www.classics.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
  27. ^ "Funeral notice for Dr Judith McKenzie". www.dignityfunerals.co.uk. Retrieved 19 June 2019.

Further reading

  • McKenzie, Judith (2022). Life in a Cave in Petra with the Bdoul 1981–1986. Manar al-Athar Monograph. Vol. 6. Oxford: Manar al-Athar, University of Oxford. ISBN 978-0-9954946-9-5.