McKENZIE, Judith (Sheila) 1957-

PERSONAL: Born 1957, in Australia; father holds doctorate in chemistry and mother holds doctorate in biochemistry.

ADDRESSES: Offıce—St. Hugh's College, Oxford University, Oxford OX2 6LE, England. E-mail—judith. mckenzie@arch.ox.ac.uk.

CAREER: Oxford University, Oxford, England, member of sub-faculty of archaeology, associate member of St. Hugh's College. Rhys-Davids junior research fellow, 1987-90; British Academy postdoctoral research fellow at St. Hugh's College, Oxford, 1990-93. Member, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ, 2003-04.

AWARDS, HONORS: Queen Elizabeth II fellowship, Australian government, 1992, for research on architecture of Alexandria, Egypt.

WRITINGS:

The Architecture of Petra, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1990, reprinted, Oxbow Books (Oakville, CT), 2005.

Contributor to books, including Alexandria and Alexandrianism, edited by K. Hamma, Getty Museum (Malibu, CA), 1996; John Malcolm Russell, From Nineveh to New York: The Strange Story of the Assyrian Reliefs in the Metropolitan Museum and the Hidden Masterpiece at Canford School, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT), 1997; and Petra Rediscovered, edited by Glenn Markoe, Abrams (New York, NY), 2003. Contributor to scholarly publications, including Palestine Exploration Quarterly, Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, Journal of Roman Archaeology, Journal of Roman Studies, Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan, and Levant.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Researching the architecture of Alexandria and Egypt, 300 B.C.E.-700 B.C.E.; Khirbet Tannur Temple Project.

SIDELIGHTS: Born in Australia, author and archeology scholar Judith McKenzie serves as a member of the sub-faculty of archaeology at Oxford University. Her primary research interests include architecture, the archeology and art of Greco-Roman and late antique or Coptic Egypt and Alexandria, as well as Nabataean architecture and sculpture. McKenzie has written numerous scholarly papers on ancient architecture, contributing to such publications as Journal of Roman Studies, Journal of Roman Archaeology, Palestine Exploration Quarterly and Levant. She is also the author of The Architecture of Petra, and among her other published work is her contribution to From Nineveh to New York: The Strange Story of the Assyrian Reliefs in the Metropolitan Museum and the Hidden Masterpiece at Canford School.

Petra is a mysterious site located in the desert and mountains in southern Jordan. The ruined monuments indicate the presence of a formerly wealthy civilization that crumbled hundreds of years ago. Archeologists have questioned the origins and meaning of the site for decades, wondering if it might somehow be linked to other archeological sites of similar design, and theorizing what connection there might be between some of the structures at Petra and paintings of similar structures that appear on Roman wall paintings believed to have been executed during the first century B.C.E. McKenzie addresses such questions in The Architecture of Petra, which serves as the first volume in a series on archaeology produced by the British Academy.

In a review for the Times Literary Supplement, Malcolm A. R. Colledge praised McKenzie's work, calling The Architecture of Petra a good choice to inaugurate the series and commenting that "her meticulous approach, critical eye and understanding have clearly revolutionized her chosen subject." Colledge went on to note that while McKenzie does not provide answers to all of history's mysteries regarding Petra, "many other puzzles have been solved by this splendid study, which has moved understanding of Petra on to a new plane." Choice contributor C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky called McKenzie's work "an important and wonderfully produced book," and remarked that it was "a paragon of exposition for detailing and illustrating the architecture of a single community and relating it to comparative evidence from other communities."

From Nineveh to New York: The Strange Story of the Assyrian Reliefs in the Metropolitan Museum and the Hidden Masterpiece at Canford School recounts the history of the Assyrian reliefs located at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. It includes the adventures of Sir Austen Henry Layard, the archeologist who discovered the reliefs; Lady Charlotte Guest, the patroness to whom Layard gave the stones; their relationship to the British Museum in London; and how the stones were eventually acquired by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., before coming to their current home. The book, to which McKenzie contributes a chapter, offers an overview of ancient Assyrian art. In a review for the New York Times Book Review, Thomas Hoving wrote: "I haven't read a more thrilling book in years about archeology and the history of taste . . . or one more beautifully organized, scrupulously researched and laden with vivid human characterizations and penetrating observations about the fashions and foibles surrounding artistic styles."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Choice, February, 1992, C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky, review of The Architecture of Petra, p. 931.

Historical Times, March, 1990, review of The Architecture of Petra, p. 57.

New York Times Book Review, June 1, 1997, Thomas Hoving, review of From Nineveh to New York: The Strange Story of the Assyrian Reliefs in the Metropolitan Museum and the Hidden Masterpiece at Canford School.

Times Literary Supplement, January 3, 1992, Malcolm A. R. Colledge, review of The Architecture of Petra, p. 15.