Kara Cooney

Kara Cooney is a professor of ancient Egyptian art and architecture and chair of the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at UCLA. Specializing in social history, craft production, coffin studies, gender studies, and economies of the ancient world, she received her PhD in Egyptology from Johns Hopkins University. In 2005, she was co-curator of Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Cooney produced a comparative archaeology television series, entitled Out of Egypt, which aired in 2009 on the Discovery Channel and is available online via Hulu and Amazon. The Woman Who Would Be King: Hatshepsut’s Rise to Power in Ancient Egypt (2014), Cooney’s first trade book, benefits from her expert perspective on Egypt’s ancient history to craft an illuminating biography of its least well-known female king. Her next book, When Women Ruled the World (2018, National Geographic), explores the reigns of six powerful ancient Egyptian queens and how they changed our perceptions of power. Her latest popular book, The Good Kings: Absolute Power in Ancient Egypt and the Modern World (2021, National Geographic), is a provocative narrative that explores the lives of five remarkable pharaohs who ruled Egypt with absolute power, shining a new light on the country's 3,000-year empire and its meaning today. Cooney’s research in coffin reuse, primarily focusing on the 19th and 21st Dynasties, is ongoing. Her research investigates the socioeconomic and political turmoil that have plagued the period, ultimately affecting funerary and burial practices in ancient Egypt. Her most recent book on this research, Recycling for Death: Coffin Reuse in Ancient Egypt and the Theban Royal Caches (2024, The American University in Cairo Press), is a meticulous study of the social, economic, and religious significance of coffin reuse and development during the Ramesside and early Third Intermediate periods, illustrated with over 900 images.