Kea Johnston
@kjohnston.bsky.social
I’m an Egyptologist and digital humanist. I obtained my PhD from UC Berkeley in 2022.
I’m now a postdoctoral scholar working at the Field Museum and the ISAC Museum at the University of Chicago.
I’m now a postdoctoral scholar working at the Field Museum and the ISAC Museum at the University of Chicago.
🎶Toad Maaannn🎶 (to the tune of Spoon Man. Like George R R Martin, I’ve gotten into mini painting. It’s relaxing and quick. Unlike Martin, I intend to work on my manuscript, to which I know the ending.
August 10, 2025 at 2:13 AM
🎶Toad Maaannn🎶 (to the tune of Spoon Man. Like George R R Martin, I’ve gotten into mini painting. It’s relaxing and quick. Unlike Martin, I intend to work on my manuscript, to which I know the ending.
This is Mortie, who is nine years old and has spent the morning begging for food and annihilating my houseplant.
July 23, 2025 at 2:22 PM
This is Mortie, who is nine years old and has spent the morning begging for food and annihilating my houseplant.
Aw yiss! Look what I just scored!
July 17, 2025 at 1:04 AM
Aw yiss! Look what I just scored!
When I was an angsty young thing, the character from Dickens I identified with was Sydney Carton. Now it’s Madame Defarge. Here she is making stitches for a snitch. (Illustration by A. A. Dixon)
July 3, 2025 at 12:08 AM
When I was an angsty young thing, the character from Dickens I identified with was Sydney Carton. Now it’s Madame Defarge. Here she is making stitches for a snitch. (Illustration by A. A. Dixon)
My sign for the No Kings protest in Chicago. It was big. I don’t want to out anyone I don’t know so I’m not posting pics, but it was big and on message!
June 14, 2025 at 9:19 PM
My sign for the No Kings protest in Chicago. It was big. I don’t want to out anyone I don’t know so I’m not posting pics, but it was big and on message!
Want to learn hieroglyphs so you can read objects in museums? Take my upcoming class, Handy Hieroglyphs www.eventbrite.com/e/handy-hier...
June 12, 2025 at 10:14 PM
Want to learn hieroglyphs so you can read objects in museums? Take my upcoming class, Handy Hieroglyphs www.eventbrite.com/e/handy-hier...
Are you in Chicago? Then you should come to my conference on Friday and Saturday at ISAC. It’s on how technology can be used to better integrate museums into their communities!
isac.uchicago.edu/programs-eve...
isac.uchicago.edu/programs-eve...
May 20, 2025 at 2:19 PM
Are you in Chicago? Then you should come to my conference on Friday and Saturday at ISAC. It’s on how technology can be used to better integrate museums into their communities!
isac.uchicago.edu/programs-eve...
isac.uchicago.edu/programs-eve...
President Sassy Kitty
May 17, 2025 at 5:27 AM
President Sassy Kitty
Gotta go with the classic devil horns.
May 17, 2025 at 5:17 AM
Gotta go with the classic devil horns.
I have drawn fanart for this video.
April 24, 2025 at 8:58 PM
I have drawn fanart for this video.
Here is a little taste, and you can find more on the Hearst Museum’s website! portal.hearstmuseum.berkeley.edu/catalog/86ce...
April 23, 2025 at 1:17 AM
Here is a little taste, and you can find more on the Hearst Museum’s website! portal.hearstmuseum.berkeley.edu/catalog/86ce...
From Trashcan Paul and ericworkx memes on Instagram:
April 18, 2025 at 2:47 PM
From Trashcan Paul and ericworkx memes on Instagram:
It was hard to come up with good protest sign ideas. It occurred to me that I know at least one person who got measles as a child, and another who had Polio as a child and became disabled because of it. I don’t want to relearn the lessons of the past.
March 7, 2025 at 3:37 AM
It was hard to come up with good protest sign ideas. It occurred to me that I know at least one person who got measles as a child, and another who had Polio as a child and became disabled because of it. I don’t want to relearn the lessons of the past.
Bucket-list item completed! I finally got to see this famous 21st dynasty northern style coffin from a secondary burial in the tomb of Iwefaa at Saqqara…Grand Egyptian Museum #GEM
December 6, 2024 at 1:20 PM
Bucket-list item completed! I finally got to see this famous 21st dynasty northern style coffin from a secondary burial in the tomb of Iwefaa at Saqqara…Grand Egyptian Museum #GEM
Guess what this is? The looting at el-Hibeh is so bad that there are holes everywhere where graves and other things have just been dragged out, torn through, and left on the ground….like this object which was found next to a heap of bones and sunbleached unpainted coffin fragments.
December 5, 2024 at 2:59 PM
Guess what this is? The looting at el-Hibeh is so bad that there are holes everywhere where graves and other things have just been dragged out, torn through, and left on the ground….like this object which was found next to a heap of bones and sunbleached unpainted coffin fragments.
We went to Beni Hasan this weekend to see the famous Middle Kingdom tombs along with the Speos Artemeidos. I was very interested in looking for the Third Intermediate Period tombs Garstang dug at the latter but did not publish.
December 1, 2024 at 3:08 PM
We went to Beni Hasan this weekend to see the famous Middle Kingdom tombs along with the Speos Artemeidos. I was very interested in looking for the Third Intermediate Period tombs Garstang dug at the latter but did not publish.
On the tell at el-Hibeh, we have a lot of stray dogs. These puppies, named Pinudjem and Henuttawy by my teammates, have decided we aren’t so bad. But if you feed one, you have to take it home. That’s the rule.
November 26, 2024 at 12:00 PM
On the tell at el-Hibeh, we have a lot of stray dogs. These puppies, named Pinudjem and Henuttawy by my teammates, have decided we aren’t so bad. But if you feed one, you have to take it home. That’s the rule.
Did you know there are freshwater crabs in the Nile? I didn’t. And apparently people eat them, too! I’d have one but it would have to be fried.
November 22, 2024 at 8:13 PM
Did you know there are freshwater crabs in the Nile? I didn’t. And apparently people eat them, too! I’d have one but it would have to be fried.
Here's a picture of the lid, courtesy of the Coffin Club Facebook group. To my knowledge, this has no direct parallels in the corpus from Thebes or elsewhere. The green face is especially unique and shows up on a lot of pieces dating to hundreds of years later in dynasty 26.
October 16, 2023 at 8:21 PM
Here's a picture of the lid, courtesy of the Coffin Club Facebook group. To my knowledge, this has no direct parallels in the corpus from Thebes or elsewhere. The green face is especially unique and shows up on a lot of pieces dating to hundreds of years later in dynasty 26.
Here's a picture of this beauty from the Luxor Times article.
October 15, 2023 at 8:46 PM
Here's a picture of this beauty from the Luxor Times article.