Linda Evans

Biography

Linda Evans is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Ancient History, and a member of the Ancient Cultures Research Centre. She studied Classical Studies and Psychology at the University of Adelaide (1980) and completed an Honours degree in Psychology (1981) before working in the field of Biology in the United States (at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri; Rockefeller University, New York; and the University of California, Davis). Upon returning to Australia in 1993, she completed both an MA (1998) and PhD (2007) in Egyptology at Macquarie University.

Research Interest

Dr Evans is an environmental historian who explores the relationship between humans and non-human animals in the ancient world as reflected in religious ideas, symbolism, and especially art. Her PhD concerned the representation of animal behaviour in Egyptian tomb scenes. She subsequently completed a three-year postdoctoral study of the depiction of invertebrates (insects, arachnids, and molluscs) in Egyptian art (wall scenes, jewellery, amulets, etc), followed by a second postdoctoral project that examined current scientific understanding of Egypt's geography, climate, flora, and fauna during the pharaonic era and evaluated the impact of natural phenomena on Egyptian cultural expression. A Macquarie University Research Development Grant (2015-2016) and an Australian Research Council Discovery Project Grant (2016-2018) are now enabling her to explore a related theme, namely, the religious and symbolic meaning of the natural world for the Egyptians, via a detailed study of the animal imagery at the ancient Egyptian cemetery site of Beni Hassan.