Welcome to North Texas ARCE
Welcome to the North Texas Chapter of the American Research Center in Egypt
We are one of the oldest and most active of the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE) chapters with regular programs, occasional seminars, and a variety of other activities. At our events you will hear and have a chance to talk with prominent Egyptologists from around the world as well as up and coming scholars. Lectures are free and open to the public.
Our monthly lectures are preceded by a social half hour with refreshments, and we enjoy a post-presentation "no host" dinner with our speaker at a nearby restaurant.
Our Next Event
October 10th, 2026 — 7:30 PM — Dr. Colleen Darnell
Free and open to the public!
Three Secrets of the Valley of the Kings
Zoom Link: https://smu.zoom.us/j/98354490666
The Valley of the Kings is often described as being in a hidden location, far from the population of ancient Thebes. The first "secret" of the royal necropolis is actually that its location was not a secret at all—a desert road that ascends a mountain north of the Valley of the Kings gave ancient travelers over centuries a glimpse of the necropolis. Within the tombs, we encounter the second "secret," deliberately encrypted information within elaborate compositions known as the Netherworld Books that were painted and carved on the walls and ceilings. These texts contain the "greatest mystery" of Egyptian religion, the unification of Re and Osiris. Some of these treatises, including one on a gilded shrine in the tomb of Tutankhamun, contained knowledge so powerful that they could only be written in cryptographic hieroglyphs. The third "secret" was an accidental concealment, the debris that buried the tomb of Tutankhamun (and preserved that gilded shrine). Professional patrolmen kept the tombs safe in antiquity—until political insecurity and economic necessity at the end of the New Kingdom led to state-sponsored tomb robbery. But the location of Tutankhamun's tomb was hidden even from the men who emptied the royal tombs. A title that one of the robbers gave to himself says it all: "He who opens the doors of the mysterious Netherworld."ct:
About the Speaker
Colleen Darnell is an Egyptologist, author, and educator. Formerly an Associate Professor at Yale University, she now brings ancient Egypt to an international audience through her live, remote Egyptology program, founded in 2021, where she has taught more than three hundred and fifty people how to read hieroglyphs. Her scholarship encompasses military history, literature, and religion, and she has authored or co-authored seven books, including The Late Egyptian Underworld, Imagining the Past: Historical Fiction in Ancient Egypt, and Egypt's Golden Couple: When Akhenaten and Nefertiti Were Gods on Earth (with John Coleman Darnell). She has directed the Moalla Survey Project and regularly participates in archaeological expeditions. In 2013, she curated a major museum exhibit on Egyptian revival art and design entitled “Echoes of Egypt: Conjuring the Land of the Pharaohs.” She appears regularly on National Geographic’s “Lost Treasures of Egypt.”
Venue
Fondren Science Building — 3215 Daniel Ave, Dallas, TX 75205
Important SMU Parking Information
Southern Methodist University kindly sponsors us and provides limited free parking.
Please be sure to park in Lot Q or Lot R next to Fondren Science Building.
It’s easiest to find lecture room 123 in Fondren if you enter from the Lot R side of the building. There will be limited NT-ARCE event signage to help you find your way once inside the Fondren Science Building.
Parking Pass: Lot Q
The Club Thanks
Our members, guest speakers, and visitors, and...
Our Generous Sponsor
Southern Methodist University’s Clements Department of History
NT-ARCE 2026 Officers
President: David Kuhlmann
Vice President, Program Chair: Teri Kuhlmann
Treasurer: Samantha Tennant
Secretary: Jennifer Danford
Officers-At-Large: Karlene Schoonover & Susan Patterson
Refreshments generously provided by Jennifer & Butch Danford
See any of the above listed people at a meeting to discuss ideas, offer suggestions, ask questions, or volunteer to help the club with us.
Renew ARCE
Here is a link to national ARCE if you'd like to renew your membership now. Don't forget to designate North Texas ARCE as your affiliated local chapter. Many thanks to all those who have already renewed!
Join ARCE
Join our parent organization, the American Research Center in Egypt for online lectures, periodic reports of current excavations and projects in Egypt, and other member benefits. Don't forget to designate North Texas ARCE as your affiliated local chapter.