Marie-Lys Arnette

Marie-Lys Arnette

Assistant Professor, Alexander Badawy Chair in Egyptian Art and Archaeology

Contact Information

Research Interests: Egyptology, social anthropology and history of Art

Education: PhD, Sorbonne University

Marie-Lys Arnette studied at the École du Louvre (History of Art and Museology) and La Sorbonne University (Egyptology). After completing her PhD thesis, she became Director of Publications, then Scientific Member, of the Institut français d’archéologie orientale (Ifao, Cairo). She has taught on the history of Egyptian art, archaeology, and Middle Egyptian language at the École du Louvre (France), the University Lumière – Lyon 2 (France), and the University of Fribourg (Switzerland).

Marie-Lys is a member of the Archaeological Mission at the Precinct of Mut, South Karnak (JHU/Liverpool University) and the Mission for the Study and Restoration of Deir el-Medina (Ifao). She collaborates with the European Research Council funded project Locus Ludi (ERC 741520) and is a scientific collaborator at the University of Fribourg. She also serves as a member of the editorial board of the Locus Ludi collection (Darmstadt, Germany) and the Jeu/Play/Spiel collection (Liège, Belgium).

Marie-Lys’ research belongs to the field of historical anthropology, her approach being that of cultural history: perception of the body and emotions, relationship to food, imagery of death, and more recently ludic practices. Although her research themes are varied, her approach remains the same: always confronting Egyptian texts with iconography and material culture, considering the sources over the long term. The opening to other disciplines of antiquity and to other human and social sciences is a central focus in her scientific work. This perspective on Egyptian sources remains at the forefront of her teaching where interdisciplinarity is always present.

Books and Special Issues:

2022. With V. Dasen, Joueuses ! , Clio. Femmes, Genre, Histoire 56.

2020. Regressus ad uterum. La mort comme une nouvelle naissance dans les grands textes funéraires de l’Égypte pharaonique (Ve-XXe dynastie). BdE 175, Cairo.

2019. Religion et alimentation en Égypte et Orient anciens. RAPH 43 (2 vol.), Cairo.

2017. With D. Driaux, translated by E. Adly, لقطات من مصر. كنوز فوتوغرافية من المعهد الفرنسى للآثار الشرقية. BiGén 52, Cairo.

2016. With D. Driaux, Instantanés d’Égypte. Trésors photographiques de l’Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale. BiGén 50, Cairo.

Articles and Book Chapters:

“Louis Becq de Fouquières, Les jeux des anciens et l’Égypte”, in V. Dasen, A. Attia and M.-L. Arnette (eds), Louis Becq de Fouquières, Les jeux des Anciens, volume II, La réception des jeux antiques à l’époque moderne, Collection Jeu/Play/Spiel, Liège (volume in preparation).

“Playing with the Other. Did the Greeks Know the Egyptian Game of Senet and its Funerary Meaning?”, in E. Panaite (ed.), Meeting the Other. Transfers and Cultural Interactions around the Nile Valley, Institut français d’archéologie orientale/Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, Cairo, Warsaw (volume in preparation).

2024. "A community of players. Board games at Deir el-Medina (Egypt)", in A. Pace, T. Penn, U. Schädler (eds), Games in the Ancient World: Places, Spaces, Accessories, Monographies Instrumentum 79, Drémil-Lafage, pp. 31-52. 

2022. “Quand les femmes jouent aux dames. Images du jeu égyptien de senet (Thèbes, Nouvel Empire)”, in M.-L. Arnette, V. Dasen (eds), Joueuses !, Clio. Femmes, Genre, Histoire 56, pp. 127-140.

2022. With V. Dasen, “Femmes en jeu : regards croisés de l’Antiquité à l’époque contemporaine”, in M.-L. Arnette, V. Dasen (eds), Joueuses !, Clio. Femmes, Genre, Histoire 56, pp. 7-21.

2022. With A. Austin, “Of Ink and Clay: Tattooed Mummified Human Remains and Female Figurines from Deir el-Medina”, JEA 108: 1-18.

2022. “Female Figurines from Deir el-Medina: Preliminary remarks on the Ifao’s Collection”, in F. Poole, S. Töpfer, P. del Vesco (eds), Deir el-Medina through the Kaleidoscope. Proceedings of the International Workshop Turin 8th-10th October 2018, Torino, Museo Egizio: 502-530.

2021. “Faisons les comptes ! Deux plateaux du jeu de vingt cases à Deir el-Médina, Égypte”, Instrumentum 54: 15-18.

2021. “Deux jeux, un astre, les yeux : sur un plateau de senet biface inédit”, BIFAO 121: 23-64.

2019. “Prémices”, in M.-L. Arnette (ed.), Religion et alimentation en Égypte et Orient anciens, RAPH 43, vol. 1, Cairo: 1-18.

2019. “Va, meurs et deviens. L’invention de l’au-delà”, Le Monde de la Bible 230: 48-51.

2017. “La gémellité biologique dans l’Égypte ancienne. Synthèse des cas potentiels”, BIFAO 117: 29-75.

2015. With Fr. Labrique, “Amonet parturiente : sur quelques expressions rares”, in Chr. Zivie-Coche (ed.), Offrandes, rites et rituels dans les temples d’époque ptolémaïque et romaine, CENiM 10, Montpellier: 9-26.

2014. “Purification du post-partum et rites des relevailles dans l’Égypte ancienne”, BIFAO 114: 19-71.

2014. “La mort, miroir de la naissance : le Spr. 565 des Textes des Pyramides”, in A. Mouton, J. Patrier (eds), Life, Death, and Coming of Age in Antiquity: Individual Rites of Passage in the Ancient Near East and Adjacent Regions, PIHANS 124, Leiden: 262-276.

2014. “Les dépôts alimentaires dans la tombe de Khâ (TT 8) : synthèse et tentative d’approche symbolique”, in A. Mouton, J. Patrier (eds), Life, Death, and Coming of Age in Antiquity: Individual Rites of Passage in the Ancient Near East and Adjacent Regions, PIHANS 124, Leiden: 336-390.