Acting · b. 1960 · Bolton, Lancashire, England, UK
Joyce Ann Tyldesley OBE (born 25 February 1960) is a British archaeologist and Egyptologist, academic, writer and broadcaster who specialises in the women of ancient Egypt. She was interviewed on the TV series 'Cunk on Earth', about Egypt's pyramids, in 2022
Tyldesley was born in Bolton, Lancashire and attended Bolton School. In 1981, she earned a first-class honours degree in the archaeology of the Eastern Mediterranean from the University of Liverpool. Her doctoral studies were undertaken at Oxford University; first at St Anne's College then, following the award of a scholarship, at St Cross College. In 1986, she was awarded a doctorate in Prehistoric Archaeology from Oxford University. Her thesis was written about Mousterian bifaces (handaxes) in Northern Europe. Tyldesley then returned to Liverpool as a lecturer in Prehistoric Archaeology.
Tyldesley next worked as a freelance Egyptologist/archaeologist; writing books, working with television companies, and teaching in further and higher education and online.
In 2007, she joined the University of Manchester, as a joint appointment between the Manchester Museum and the Faculty of Life Sciences. As of 2023, she is Professor of Egyptology in the Department of Classics, Ancient History, Archaeology and Egyptology where she is tutor and Programme Director of the three-year online Certificate in Egyptology programme, the two-year online Diploma in Egyptology programme and the two year part-time online MA in Egyptology programme. She has devised, writes, directs and teaches a suite of on-line Short Courses in Egyptology, and has created several free online Egyptology courses (MOOCS), working in conjunction with the Manchester Museum. Mumford the Mummy is a series of lessons aimed at Key Stage 2 primary school children, freely available via Nearpod.
In 2011, Tyldesley was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Bolton in recognition of her contribution to education. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA) and a Research Associate of the Manchester Museum. Tyldesley is President of Bolton Archaeology and Egyptology Society and a former trustee of the Egypt Exploration Society.
Tyldesley has extensive archaeological fieldwork experience, having excavated in Britain, Europe and Egypt where she worked with the British Museum at Ashmunein, with Liverpool University in the Eastern Nile Delta, and where she conducted her own field survey at Tuna el-Gebel.
Tyldesley has been interviewed on various TV series including Empires: Egypt's Golden Empire (2001), and The Nile: Egypt's Great River with Bettany Hughes (2019).
Tyldesley has two children.
She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2024 New Year Honours for services to Egyptology and heritage.