Meet Dr. Kathleen Martinez: The Latina Archeologist in Search of Cleopatra’s Tomb

The famed Egyptian Queen Cleopatra VII is rumored to have said, “No man will ever find my tomb.” Which is why it’s fitting that it’s a Latina archeologist who has gotten closer than anyone ever has before to discovering the final resting place of ancient Egypt’s most famous queen. So just who is this impressive archeologist looking to shed light on one of history’s greatest mysteries?

Born in Santo Domingo in 1966, Dr. Katleen Martinez is the daughter of Fausto Martinez, a professor and legal scholar who was also the owner of the largest private library in the Dominican Republic. Her father would bring books to her weekly and a young Dr. Martinez would then have to discuss with him what she’d learned. Not only did this quest for knowledge result in her skipping a few grades in elementary school, it also began her infatuation with ancient Egypt, setting her on a journey that would take her far beyond Santo Domingo and to a life beyond what her parents had ever imagined. 

While her parents supported her intellectual curiosities, they did not support Dr. Martinez’s dream to pursue a career as an archaeologist. On The Interchange podcast, she explained to host Latife Hayson how her parents did not view archeology as a viable career.

“When I was a kid, I said to my parents that I wanted to be an archaeologist and one day I will go to Egypt and I will make great discoveries. They laughed. When I was growing up, they told me you’re not going to be an archeologist. That’s not a real career. You’re never going to have the chance to work in Egypt and certainly you’re not going to make any discoveries. I’m not going to pay for such a crazy idea. If you go to college, you will choose a formal career. That’s why I chose law.”

Dissuaded by her parents from pursuing her dream, Dr. Martinez would go on to study law and graduated with her law degree at the age of 19. She quickly established herself as a well respected criminal defense attorney, taking on a politically charged case that no other lawyer wanted to touch. She holds two master’s degrees: one in finance and the other in archeology, an interest she rekindled while living and studying abroad in Spain.

By 2004, Dr. Kathleen Martinez was without a doubt doing great in her career. She had 5 other lawyers working for her, a partner and was a mother of two. However, she realized that despite all of her success, she was still unhappy. Professionally unfulfilled, she felt compelled to go to Egypt to see if the theory she had long come up with regarding the location of Cleopatra’s tomb could be true.  

As luck would have it, the location she had her sights on exploring, Taposiris Magna temple, was being readied to be converted into a tourist site. This meant that the window for excavation was quickly closing for good. Not wanting to let the opportunity pass her by, Dr. Kathleen Martinez presented her theory. 

In 2005, with zero prior excavation experience and armed with nothing but her extensive research and her conviction, she received her permit to explore the mysteries hidden at the Taposiris Magna, a site that was at the time believed to be an uncompleted temple. 

Prior to Dr. Martinez’s discoveries, there were two other locations believed to be the potential sites of the tomb of Cleopatra. The first is the Royal Quarter of Alexandria where Cleopatra’s palace was located and which today sits underwater. The other is the Temple of Philae in Aswan, an important religious center in Cleopatra’s time. The Temple of Philae is dedicated to the goddess Isis. Cleopatra was considered to be the living, human embodiment of Isis during her time. An important fact which would guide Dr. Martinez in her discovery.

The famous Roman historian Plutarch said in his writings that the tomb of Cleopatra VII and her husband, Mark Anthony was near a temple of Isis. However, there are many temples dedicated to the goddess in Egypt and beyond.

Dr. Martinez explained in one of her interviews, “When I came out with my theory, I said okay she would never choose to be buried in the Royal Quarters because the Romans were already in control of the Royal Quarters and they wanted to take her to Rome dead or alive and they would never allow her to rest in peace with her husband, Mark Anthony. She would never have the opportunity to hide from the Romans. She didn’t want to be disgraced and taken to Rome and be paraded in Rome by Octavius, so she would never choose the Royal Quarters. And the other location in Philea is impossible because we know that she visited twice this location; two weeks before she committed suicide and the day before she committed suicide. And she could not travel 1000 kilometers at that time in the same day. So nobody thought of that. I said she was looking for a temple of Isis, but not that one. It had to be one near Alexandria. And I will find it. So I prepared a map of ancient Alexandria and I located all those temples dedicated to Isis.”

The Taposiris Magna temple is located 46 kilometers from the Royal Quarter of Alexandria, aka Cleopatra’s former palace. Most interestingly, no one knew who the Taposiris Magna temple was dedicated to prior to Dr. Martinez’s efforts. It was the only ancient temple in Egypt where there were no visible clues left behind on to whom it was dedicated, who built it or even if the temple ever functioned as a temple. All of these questions left unanswered led Dr. Martinez to believe that this was the final resting place of Cleopatra VII.

For hundreds of years, archaeologists have searched for the foundation plate at Taposiris Magna and never found it. In archaeology, a “foundation plate” refers to a foundation deposit, which is a collection of objects, often precious materials, intentionally buried beneath the foundations of a building to commemorate its construction and the virtues of the ruler.  

In 2005, Dr. Martinez found the foundation plate for Taposiris Magna after only a couple of months of excavation. The first discovery at the ancient site was a set of rare and fragile tablets that confirmed that the temple was built around 270-280 BCE by Cleopatra’s great great great grandfather, tying the temple directly to Cleopatra’s family line. Dr. Martinez discovered in two months what other Egyptologists had spent 200 years searching for. 

To date, Dr. Martinez and her team have discovered not only that the Taposiris Magna is the remains of an ancient temple of Isis, but also a huge collection of coins portraying Cleopatra, Mark Anthony, and Alexander the Great. They have also discovered a necropolis containing 21 catacombs and more than 1,000 human remains and mummies, as well as a tunnel that leads out to the Mediterranean sea. Almost all of the remains discovered on site are from the time of Cleopatra. To date, 3,000 artifacts from the excavation have been exhibited in major museums through National Geographic.

The discovery of the tunnel to the Mediterranean has transformed the excavation to one that is both land and sea. Famed oceanographer Robert Ballard, perhaps best known for discovering the wreckage of the Titanic, has recently joined Dr. Martinez’s team, conducting underwater excavations and identifying five key search sites with support from the Egyptian Navy.

It’s worth noting that Dr. Martinez’s excavation efforts are a Dominican-Egyptian project. Dr. Martinez has insisted on leading the effort under a Dominican institution to ensure that all of her discoveries bear the country’s flag. She has repeatedly rejected funding from American and European Universities to preserve the Dominican identity of the project. The first Dominican and Latina archaeologist to make a historical find of this magnitude, Dr. Martinez hopes not to be the last as she is also set to train young archaeologists, especially ones from Latin America, supporting the next generation of Egyptologists. 

Dr. Martinez has dedicated the past 20 years to solving one of the greatest mysteries in human history. Soon, we may finally have an answer as to where Cleopatra VII’s final resting place lies thanks to her tireless efforts and relentless dedication to honoring the memory of the late queen.

“One of the goals that I had when I started this project was to become the lawyer for history for queen Cleopatra because she was one of those women who achieved so much and then her image was destroyed because of misogyny.” 

She continues, “ She was the first woman who studied formally at Musaeum in Alexandria. She was a philosopher, she was a doctor in medicine. She was a musician, she studied chemistry. She was a mother of 4, she was a wife, she was a queen, she was a goddess. She was a very  accomplished woman and then her image was destroyed by the Romans as a result of propaganda to destroy her and take down her throne in Egypt. She deserves to be remembered as she really was.” 

There is no doubt that Dr. Kathleen Martinez will too be remembered as one of the greatest women in history. A criminal defense attorney turned archeologist, who fought for justice not just for her clients, but for the most famous queen in Egyptian history.