Carina van den Hoven is Research Fellow at NINO and Director of the Dutch archaeological expedition to the Theban necropolis.
Van den Hoven’s expertise and research interests in Egyptology are in the topics of textual and iconographic transmission processes and uses and reuses of the past, with a specific focus on tomb reuse. Van den Hoven’s research interests also include the fields of landscape archaeology, memory studies, cultural heritage management, and digital humanities (in particular the use of digital techniques in the documentation, material analysis, and publication of ancient wall paintings).
Academic education
Van den Hoven obtained her first BA and MA degree in French language and literature at Leiden University in 2005, specialising in 19th century French travel literature. The topic of her MA thesis was concerned with male and female perspectives on 19th century Egypt, based on an analysis of the travel narratives of Suzanne Voilquin, Gérard de Nerval, Valérie de Gasparin, Gustave Flaubert and Maxime Du Camp.
In 2009 Van den Hoven obtained her second BA and MA degree in Egyptology at Leiden University, specialising in Egyptian art and archaeology as well as in the entire range of ancient Egyptian languages and writing systems (6-year curriculum). The topic of her MA thesis in Egyptology was concerned with an analysis of the decoration system of the temple of Kalabsha and the ways in which it reflects the ritual landscape of the Dodecaschoenos and imperial religious policy in Lower-Nubia in the early Roman Period.
PhD research
In 2017 Van den Hoven obtained a PhD degree in Egyptology at Leiden University and the École Pratique des Hautes Études/Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (EPHE/PSL). Her PhD research was concerned with an analysis of the use of tradition and the conceptualisation of innovation in the composition of ritual texts and temple wall decoration in Ptolemaic Egypt (304-30 BCE). This analysis allowed her to identify various modes and strategies of textual and iconographic transmission that were used by the ancient scribes in the processes of composing religious ritual texts and temple wall decoration. The importance of tradition in the Ptolemaic temples has often been explained as a way of preserving the indigenous religious traditions in the face of a dominant Greek culture, and as a statement by the Egyptian priests against their marginalization under foreign rule, which is thought to have led to a loss of indigenous culture and identity. However, Van den Hoven’s research has shown that the Ptolemaic temples were a major contemporary cultural phenomenon in themselves and constituted the intellectual centers of the indigenous culture, in which Egyptian cultural identity was defined. The intensive religious life in the Ptolemaic temples, including the composition of numerous new religious texts, indicates that processes of redefining cultural and religious identity on the basis of tradition were at work rather than processes of loss of indigenous culture and identity. Van den Hoven argued therefore that Ptolemaic temple culture should be described in terms of creativity and innovation, rather than in terms of decline and fall.
Current research
Van den Hoven’s current research continues on the topic of referencing the past in ancient Egypt, but from a new perspective. In 2017 she launched a research and fieldwork project in the Theban necropolis on the West Bank of Luxor, with Theban Tomb 45 as its starting point. This tomb is a fascinating case of tomb reuse, in which the original wall decoration (Amenhotep II, ca. 1400 BCE) was partially retouched and repainted by the second tomb owner (Ramesside Period) in order to update the paintings to contemporary style and (personal) taste. The fieldwork project at Theban Tomb 45 forms the starting point for Van den Hoven’s current research project on tomb reuse, which focuses on the questions of how secondary tomb owners dealt with the past in reused tombs, and how they inserted their own memory into the existing decoration of these tombs. Van den Hoven’s interdisciplinary approach challenges traditional outside-in interpretations by combining theory and methodology from the fields of Memory Studies and Landscape Archaeology, which enables her to explore tomb reuse in terms of the interaction between mortuary practice, cultural memory, and the physical features of the mortuary landscape. In doing so, she aims to allow for a deep-level understanding of this understudied phenomenon and to contribute to wider cross-cultural discussions on the reuse of mortuary spaces and on the functioning of mortuary landscapes and the tombs therein as dynamic spaces through which memories were constructed, preserved and transferred across generations.
Fieldwork
In 2017 Van den Hoven launched a research and fieldwork project in the Theban necropolis on the West Bank of Luxor, with Theban Tomb 45 as its starting point. Since 2025 the project carries out research and fieldwork in a large area of Lower Sheikh ʿAbd el-Qurna, which comprises Theban Tombs 45, 133, 136, and 137, as well as several unidentified structures which are numbered -290-, -528-, -529-, -530-, and -531-. The main aims of the research and fieldwork project are to implement an extensive preventive conservation and risk management programme, and at the same time to archaeologically study this area. The monuments in this area are extremely vulnerable to flash flooding due to their position at the very bottom of the mountain at Sheikh ʿAbd el-Qurna, and they already show evidence of previous flooding and resulting damage. Flooding of these tombs poses a risk not only to their fragile decoration, but – given the marl content of the tomb structures – also to the stability of the tombs themselves. As a result of climate change, the frequency and intensity of most types of extreme events, such as flash flooding, is expected to increase significantly. For this reason, the project’s conservation programme for the tombs focuses not only on the conservation of the fragile decoration inside the tombs, but also on preventive conservation measures and risk management activities in the area surrounding the tombs, with the aim of protecting these monuments against flash flooding. The tombs in the area of Lower Sheikh ʿAbd el-Qurna are surrounded by high heaps of modern debris which should be removed, and drainage paths should be created in order to effectively and adequately protect the tombs in this area from flash flooding. At the same time, these preventive conservation and risk management activities allow the team to carry out a detailed archaeological investigation of the area of Lower Sheikh ʿAbd el-Qurna, about which currently very little is known. In carrying out research and fieldwork in this area, the team has the unique opportunity to archaeologically study this area for this first time, and at the same time to effectively protect the monuments in this area from flash flooding.
The research and fieldwork project takes a holistic and multidisciplinary approach to all aspects of the monuments of Lower Sheikh ʿAbd el-Qurna and their surrounding environment, by integrating knowledge and techniques from a wide range of fields, including Egyptology, archaeology, conservation, restoration, digital humanities, geology and hydrology, heritage and risk management, etc. Important aims of the project are to develop a proof of concept on the digital documentation and material analysis of the painted decoration of the tombs, and to contribute significantly to the development and application of non-invasive digital technologies to the documentation, publication and accessibility of ancient material culture. An additional aim of the project is to contribute to the scientific infrastructure in Egypt by providing training opportunities to young local conservators, Egyptologists, and archaeologists, as well as to contribute to raising public awareness of the archaeological heritage of Luxor through organising educational and outreach activities for the local community.
The fieldwork project is funded by the Gerda Henkel Stiftung. A proof of concept study on the digital documentation and material analysis of the painted wall decoration of TT45 is sponsored by the Netherlands Institute for the Near East (Leiden University), and the Leiden University Centre for Digital Humanities.
For more information, visit the project’s website.
Selected publications
See Academia and ORCID.
