Antonio Javier Morales Rondán

Antonio Javier Morales Rondán is an Associate Professor of Egyptology in the Department of History and Philosophy at the University of Alcalá (UAH), Spain. He is the director of the University of Alcalá archaeological expedition to Egypt, known as the Middle Kingdom Theban Project, focused on Deir el-Bahari and Asasif. He earned his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in 2013 under the supervision of David P. Silverman, James P. Allen, and Harold Hays.

• PhD, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, University of Pennsylvania (2013)
• Postdoctoral Fellow, Heidelberg Universität (2013–2014)
• Lecturer, Institute of Egyptology, Freie Universität Berlin (2014–2017)
• Ramón y Cajal Fellow, University of Alcalá (2017–)
• Associate Professor, University of Alcalá (current)

His research centers on the history, religion, language, and literature of Old and Middle Kingdom Egypt, with a focus on the First Intermediate Period and early Middle Kingdom. His expertise includes the transmission and adaptation of mortuary texts, particularly the Pyramid Texts, kingship ideology, ritual theory, and the socio-political transformations of the period. He combines traditional philological methods with archaeological fieldwork and digital approaches to textual analysis and reconstruction.

His recent publications and projects reflect a strong trend in interdisciplinary Egyptology, integrating excavation reports, digital modeling, and textual criticism. The Middle Kingdom Theban Project has produced annual preliminary reports in Studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur, alongside studies on virtual reconstruction and ritual theory. His work spans from early dynastic textual fragments to Ptolemaic funerary practices, demonstrating a comprehensive chronological and methodological range.

He has received research funding from institutions such as the Fundación Palarq and the Asociación Española de Egiptología. He has served as principal investigator for multiple projects, including The Middle Kingdom Theban Project: excavación, documentación y publicación de tumbas de las dinastías XI y XII en Asasif y Deir el-Bahari (2023–2024).

He supervises graduate students in Egyptology and Ancient History, including Begoña Gugel Gironés and Beatriz Noria Serrano. He is also a co-editor of the Monografías de Oriente Antiguo (MOA) series and has contributed to digital Egyptology through projects like the Handbook of Digital Egyptology: Texts.

His research group, CIARQ - Ciencias en la Arqueología, focuses on innovative resources in architecture, botany, geology, medicine, and chemistry for recovering the past, reflecting his interdisciplinary approach to archaeology and heritage management.