Biography

Chiori Kitagawa is a zooarchaeologist specialising in human-animal interactions throughout history. As a member of The Asyut Project since 2008, she contributes to international archaeological research in Asyut, Middle Egypt. She leads the research project "Religion and Animals of Greco-Roman Egypt - Case Studies of Middle Egypt" as a Principal Investigator, with funding from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. Her expertise spans the analysis of animal remains and archaeological fieldwork across multiple countries including Japan, Turkey, Germany and Egypt.

Project Abstract

A study on awareness & unawareness of natural calendar in ancient Egyptian iconographies.

This project examines how tomb owners and artisans in ancient Egypt understood and incorporated concepts of time, particularly through the study of funerary iconography. By analysing tomb wall decorations featuring seasonally-dependent animal behaviour and investigating how ancient Egyptians integrated seasonal cycles and various calendars into their funerary practices, this research explores their conscious and unconscious engagement with temporal awareness.

Tomb decorations frequently featured scenes of daily life and sustenance activities, including farming, fowling, hunting and fishing. This study focuses specifically on avian imagery, particularly migratory birds, to determine whether different bird species depicted together in single tomb scenes (such as fowling scenes) would have actually coexisted in Egypt during the same season. By examining the accuracy of these composite scenes – including the seasonal behaviours of various bird species alongside human activities like hunting and farming – we can assess whether these representations adhered to natural calendrical cycles.

The central question is whether these artistic representations were created with deliberate attention to or disregard for seasonal timing. Do these scenes reflect actual seasonal patterns, or do they present an idealised vision disconnected from natural cycles? More specifically, to what extent did tomb owners and artisans, who were responsible for designing tomb decorations but were not directly involved in subsistence activities, consider and incorporate nature’s temporal rhythms into their work?

This research will analyse published iconographic sources and archaeological remains to address these questions about time awareness in ancient Egyptian funerary art.

Curriculum vitae

Employment / Affiliation

Aug. 2024-Feb. 2025

Adjunct Professor, Institute of Mediterranean and Oriental Cultures, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland

Jun. 2021-present

Guest researcher, Institute of the study of ancient civilizations and cultural resources, Kanazawa University, Japan

Jan. 2020-present

Guest researcher, Institute of Egyptology, Freie Universität Berlin

Apr. 2019-Mar. 2022

Collaborative researcher, School of Letters, Nagoya University, Japan

Aug. 2008-Dec. 2019

Research assistant, The Asyut Project, Institut für Altertumswissenschaften, Ägyptologie, FB 07, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz

Academic History

2021 PhD in History, Nagoya University, Japan

2002 MA in Egyptian Archaeology, Institute of Archaeology, UCL, University of London, UK

1999 MA in Archaeology, Nanzan University, Japan

1994 BA in History, Aoyama Gakuin University, Japan

Selected Publications

2024. "Worked stone fragment from Tomb M12.3 in Gebel Asyut al-gharbi: a part of sarcophagus lid for a small animal." In Jochem Kahl et al., The Asyut Project: Sixteenth Season of Fieldwork (2022), Studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur 51: 161-163.

2020. co-authored with Silvia Prell. "The Bone Workshop of the Armoury from the Chariotry of Ramesses II in Qantir-Piramesse – a Case Study." In Approaches to the  Analysis of Production Activity at Archaeological Sites, edited by Anna K. Hodgkinson and Cecilie L. Tvetmarken, 39-49. Oxford: Archaeopress.

2019. "Mummies from the City of Canine Deities: An Analysis of Canid Osteofaunal Remains from the Tomb of the Dogs on Gebel Asyut al-Gharbi, Asyut, Middle Egypt." In Creatures of Earth, Water and Sky: Essays on Animals in Ancient Egypt and Nubia, edited by Salima Ikram, Stéphanie Porcier and Stéphane Pasquali, 193-210. Leiden: Sidestone Press.

2016. "The Tomb of the Dogs at Asyut: Faunal Remains and Other Selected Objects" In The Asyut Project 9, with contributions by Jochem Kahl and Günter Vittmann: 1-147/165-178. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.

2016. co-authors with Jochem Kahl et al. "Asyut, Tomb III: Objects. Part 1." InThe Asyut Project 3, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag: 329-332.