Dr. Deborah Sweeney was born in England, took her BA at Oxford University, and has lived in Israel since 1981. She is a lecturer at Tel Aviv University, where she has been teaching Egyptology since 1996, and specializes in women and gender in Ancient Egypt, daily life at the tomb-builders village of Deir el-Medina, and mining and quarrying inscriptions. She has two cats of her own, but they probably lead a rather quieter life than ancient Egyptian cats did.