William J. Murnane

William Joseph Murnane (March 22, 1945 – November 17, 2000) was an American Egyptologist and author of a number of books and monographs on Ancient Egypt.

He was director of the Great Hypostyle Hall Project at Luxor Karnak Temple, was a research associate and held a Dunavant Professorship in the History Department of the Institute of Egyptian Art & Archaeology at the University of Memphis.

Several of his scholarly monographs are used as standard references by historians and philologists whilst more popular works, which drew on his considerable knowledge of Ancient Egyptian monuments, are used by tourists.

[2] On returning to the United States at 13 he attended Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire, where he showed an early interest in Egyptian hieroglyphs and wrote letters to his sister using the ancient language.

He was the director of the Karnak Great Hypostyle Hall Project for over twenty years, seeking to document all the texts and depictions on one of the most frequently visited monuments before they vanished.