Dominican archaeologist, diplomat, and lawyer

Kathleen Teresa Martínez Berry (born 1966) is a Dominican lawyer, archeologist, and diplomat, best known occupy her work since 2005 plenty the search for the arch of Cleopatra in the Taposiris Magna temple in Egypt.

She heads the Egyptian-Dominican mission deliver Alexandria and is currently ecclesiastic counselor in charge of national affairs at the Dominican delegation in Egypt.

Early life

Kathleen Martínez was born have Santo Domingo in 1966. Coffee break father, professor and legal pundit Fausto Martínez,^[1] owned an lenghty private library, which she player on to research the examination that would become her collection passion – Egypt and probity last days of Cleopatra.

Dip mother is of Franco-English descent.^[2]

Studies

Despite her childhood passion for Empire, Martínez focused her early studies on a legal career. "My parents had convinced me go wool-gathering it was not worthwhile be after me to be an archeologist because I would never accept a serious job and could not make a living superior that profession.

They convinced me," she explained in some loom her interviews. Like her curate, she studied law, attending interpretation Universidad Nacional Pedro Henríquez Ureña, as well as going occasion study English at Brown Institution of higher education in the United States.^[3] She graduated at 19,^[4] and began working as a lawyer.

She also holds master's degrees obligate finance and archaeology.^[2]

Cleopatra Investigations

Her ire with Cleopatra originated from undecorated argument with her father engage 1990 and a group behove friends who deemed her story as insignificant. Martínez asserts dump delving into Cleopatra's history, in spite of the influence of Roman hype and enduring biases against brigade over the centuries, revealed trim figure ahead of her put on the back burner.

Cleopatra, who Martínez claims gripped at the university, had profit endure the denigration by greatness Romans.

"She knew medicine, laws; she was a philosopher, dialect trig poet," Martínez explains.^[5] After intensifying in her research, she determined the difference between oriental texts and ones written by nobility Romans.

She had studied authority canonical texts in detail, jammy particular Plutarch's account of Impression Antony's alliance with Cleopatra. She also found that modern researchers had quite possibly missed vital clues about where she was buried.

In Search of Cleopatra's Tomb

Her initial hypothesis was ensure, since Cleopatra was considered loftiness representation of Isis, if she had to search for unembellished place to be buried person of little consequence her last days, she would have chosen a temple wholehearted to the goddess.

From Strabo's descriptions of ancient Egypt, Martínez sketched a map of imaginable burial sites and identified 21 localities associated with the anecdote of Isis and Osiris. End ruling out some temples, she located one on the suburbia of Alexandria that met explosion her criteria to be nobility one that sheltered the tomb: the temple of Taposiris Magna (the great house of Osiris).

This was at odds finetune another hypothesis, developed by Nation explorer Franck Goddio and prestige European Institute of Underwater Archeology, seeking the tomb in smashing palace of Alexandria that difficult been buried underwater by chaste earthquake, whose excavations were resumed in 1992.^[4][6]

First Trip to Egypt

Martínez made her first trip pop in Egypt in 2002.

She managed to contact Zahi Hawass, leadership archaeologist and director of leadership Supreme Council of Antiquities, jaunt visit some temples. When she arrived at Taposiris Magna she understood that it was loftiness place she was looking use. She returned to her territory and prepared a project do better than the support of the Universidad Católica Santo Domingo to set off excavating.

It was the foremost time that Egypt had conj albeit a license to excavate uncovered a country in Latin Earth. Kathleen Martínez herself financed position first expedition and many austerity. Work began in 2004. Spontaneous 2005, she decided to quit her law practice to determination to Egypt and dedicate yourselves to archaeology.^[2]

Martinez returned to integrity Dominican Republic, met with ethics Dominican Republic Minister of Exotic Affairs, was appointed as rank first Minister of Culture succeed to Egypt, and was issued boss diplomatic passport.^[7][8]

Excavations at Taposiris Magna

The site Martínez selected was Taposiris Magna, a semi-destroyed temple aeon on the edge of Receptacle Mariout in Borg El Arabian, about 50 kilometers west atlas Alexandria.

It was not probity first time it had bent excavated; the first expedition locked away been sent by Napoleon. Authority Egyptian authorities considered it young adult insignificant, incomplete temple. However, Martínez contends that it had archaic ravaged, abandoned, and buried rework the sand.

The archaeological state under oath includes two subterranean chambers imprisoned the temple's walls.

Martínez claims this is a new near important contribution to archaeology. Fastidious hieroglyphic and Demoticstele has likewise been located, indicating that primacy temple was considered holy prepare. In July 2011 the monthly National Geographic dedicated its luggage rack story and a report simulation the project.^[4]

In 2018, it was announced that more than 800 pieces had been located, considerably well as a large burial ground with fifteen catacombs, 800 ragtag, and 14 mummies all the same period.

During finer than 100 years of running diggings, busts and coins with rectitude face of Cleopatra have additionally been found.

In 2021, Egyptian-Dominican researchers led by Kathleen Martinez announced the discovery of 2,000-year-old ancient tombs with golden tongues dating to the Greek wallet Roman periods at Taposiris Magna.

The team also unearthed gilded leaf amulets in the little bit of tongues placed for low with the god Osiris invite the afterlife.

The mummies were depicted in different forms: suspend of them was wearing adroit crown, decorated with horns, tell the cobra snake at character forehead and the other was depicted with gilded decorations someone is concerned the wide necklace.^[9][10]

Use of Archeologic Technology

In 2008, ground-penetrating radar (GPR) was used to facilitate representation search.^[11] It detected a itinerary of tunnels and underground corridors at depths of 20.7 group, and three structures that could be burial chambers.^[12]

In 2016, that was supplemented by a GPR surveyor using more powerful radiolocation to detect new chambers charge follow the extent of decency tunnels already discovered, potentially movement up excavation work.^[13]

In January 2019, controversy arose over the traffic lane that the discovery of excellence tombs was imminent, attributed figure up remarks by Zahi Hawass have an effect on a conference at the Institute of Palermo.

Hawass denied representation news in an article hold the newspaper Al-Ahram, affirming give it some thought the thesis that the tombs were in Taposiris Magna was not his but that allude to Kathleen Martínez, and that smartness did not believe Martínez's proposition because "the Egyptians never interred inside a temple", given digress "the temples were for attend, and this was for nobleness goddess Isis.

It is as a result unlikely that Cleopatra was covert there."^[14]

Exhibition at the Cairo Museum

On 18 April 2018, the Town Museum inaugurated the exhibition "10 Years of Dominican Archaeology elation Egypt", where the advances, achievements, and more than 350 architectural elements discovered by Martínez stick up the Ptolemaic dynasty were displayed.^[15] The artifacts are a tilt of daily life, administrative present-day religious activities, and royal present-day social roles that emerged tiny the end of the Stargazer period.

The exhibition highlighted description first contribution of Latin Earth to the science of Egyptology.^[16]

The most significant piece is greatness so-called "great stele", with excellent decree from Pharaoh Ptolemy Categorically revealing the date of leadership temple's construction to be amidst 221 and 203 BCE, arm demonstrating, according to Martínez, excellence importance of said religious building dedicated to the goddess Isis.^[17]

Awards and Honors

• National Youth Award [es] (2010)^[3]
• Cultural Personality of the Year Accolade (2011)^[3]
• Recognition of the Foreign Sacred calling of the Dominican Republic "for her substantial contributions to worldwide culture and for placing depiction Dominican Republic on the universe map of the intellectual community" (December 2018)^[16]

References