Martin was born in
South Ockendon on 28 May 1934. He attended school at
Aveley and then Palmer's School in Grays in Essex. Martin received a BA in Ancient History from
University College London in 1963. He has the degrees of MA, PhD and Litt. D from
Cambridge University and was Budge Research Fellow in Egyptology at
Christ's College, Cambridge from 1964 to 1970. After leaving Christ's College Martin became Lecturer in
Egyptology at
University College London, Reader from 1978 and
Edwards Professor of Egyptian Archaeology and Philology from 1988 until retirement in 1993. Martin's fieldwork was carried out in various locations in
Sudan and
Egypt. He excavated with the
Egypt Exploration Society's mission at
Buhen in the Sudan in 1963. With the EES and the
National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden and
University of Amsterdam he excavated at
Saqqara from 1964-68; he was site director from 1970-1974, and field director from 1975 to 1998. He was field director of the
Amarna Epigraphic Mission, of the
Egypt Exploration Society in 1969 and 1980. From 1998 till 2002 he worked under Nicholas Reeves, Project Director, as Joint Field Director of the
Amarna Royal Tombs Project. Martin died on 7 March 2022, at the age of 87. ==Work==