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Daniel Potter is Assistant Curator of the Ancient Mediterranean collections.
Dan Potter received his BA and MA in Oriental Studies (Egyptology) from the University of Liverpool, before going on to complete his PhD at the same institution.
His PhD research focused on the Ramesside language used to describe divine interaction, this study was informed by the close analysis of textual sources and the use of methods from the areas of pragmatics and cognitive linguistics. Dan’s other research interests include early Egyptology, John Garstang’s production of archaeological facsimiles and the representation of ancient Egypt in comics.
Dan worked for two years as a Curatorial Assistant at the Garstang Museum of Archaeology, Liverpool. In this role he worked within a small team to design and develop new museum galleries, displaying artefacts from Egypt, Sudan, Italy, Greece, the UK and South America. Whilst in this post he was able to raise funds to enable the redisplay an ancient Egyptian mummified man, who had been evacuated from the museum over 70 years before, during the 1941 blitz.
Dan has taught a number of courses within the Centre for Lifelong Learning, University of Liverpool centered on Ancient Egyptian History and Beginner’s Hieroglyphs and has also lectured on a number of topics including: Ancient Egyptian Religion, the History of Archaeology and Roman material culture.
In 2016 he joined National Museums Scotland as an Assistant Curator for the National Lottery Heritage Funded capital project ‘Revealing Cultures’. In this role he worked to develop the ‘Ancient Egypt Rediscovered’ gallery which opened in 2019. During this time, Dan also curated the National Museums Scotland touring exhibition ‘Discovering Ancient Egypt’, highlighting Scotland’s involvement in the development of Egyptology. As part of this project he has also been involved in the development of learning resources and several films highlighting museum collections across Scotland. The touring exhibition forms part of the Ancient Egypt and East Asia National Programme. Dan has developed and delivered training sessions for museum professionals and is completed a Collections Review of ancient Egyptian material in Scottish Museums in 2020.
In 2022, Dan was awarded an AHRC research, development and engagement fellowship (early career) to study and highlight how archaeologists involved in British-led excavations in Egypt and Sudan engaged with the antiquities market between 1880 – 1939. It is the first fully funded project of its kind to focus on this element of collection histories. For more details visit https://www.nms.ac.uk/buyingpower
Potter, D. M. (Forthcoming), ‘Measurement Standards and Double Standards: Reassessing Charles Piazzi Smyth’s Egyptological Reputation’, in van den Bercken, B. (ed.), Alternative Egyptology.
Potter, D. M. (2022), 'A note on modern (fake) shabtis as tourist art', Journal of Egyptian Archaeology.
Maitland, M., Potter, D. M. and Troalen, L. (2022), 'The burial of the "Qurna Queen" ' In: Miniaci, G and Lacovara, P (eds.), The Treasure of the Egyptian Queen Ahhotep and International Relations at the Turn of the Middle Bronze Age (1600-1500 BCE).
Potter, D. M. (2021), 'The statue of a Sistrum-player in Montrose and her position in an early Ptolemaic Theban priestly family', Journal of Egyptian Archaeology.
Stable, C., Maitland, M., de Bellaigue, D., Potter, D. M., Messerschmidt, L., Murray, M., and Bryant, B. (2021), 'Rediscovering Ancient Egypt: Consideration of the Legacy, Ethics, and Aesthetics of Previously Restored Egyptian Artefacts', Journal of the Institute of Conservation 44/2, pp.134-152.
Potter, D. M. (2021), Review of Alice Stevenson, 2019. 'Scattered Finds: Archaeology, Egyptology and Museums', Journal of Museum Ethnography 34, pp.177-181.
Potter, D. M. (2020), Ancient Egyptian Collections in Scottish Museums, National Museums Scotland, https://www.nms.ac.uk/media/1163305/ancient-egyptian-collections-in-scottish-museums-2.pdf
Potter, D.M. (2020), 'Dr James Burnes and the "Overland route" from India to Britain', ASTENE Bulletin 81, pp.4-9.
Potter, D. M. (2018), 'Deictic motion verbs and divine interaction. Placing the individual and the divine in time and space.' In: Time and Space at Issue in Ancient Egypt, Lingua Aegyptia Studia Monographica (19). Widmaier, Hamburg, Germany, pp. 183-207.
Potter, D. M. (2018), 'Amarna in Edinburgh: excavating the archive and the museum', Egyptian Archaeology 53, pp. 38-41.
Potter, D. M. (2017), 'The Mummy reviewed by an Egyptologist: "Tom Cruise’s Late Egyptian is passable" ', i News, 12 June 2017.
For further publications see the National Museums Scotland Research Repository.
