Profile

Emily Smith-Sangster is a Ph.D. candidate studying Pharaonic period Egyptian art and archaeology with a focus on the New Kingdom. Her dissertation investigates the construction and expression of post-mortem identity in early New Kingdom Abydos, with a particular focus on the recently discovered Ahmose Cemetery in South Abydos, which she helped to excavate as part of the Abydos South Project (ASP). Her approach relies on examinations of local practice and landscape archaeology, as well as questions related to gender, disability, embodiment, and sensorialism.

Smith-Sangster received her B.A. in anthropology (highest honors), with minors in history and archaeology from Monmouth University’s Honors School, and an M.A. in Ancient Near Eastern and Egyptian studies from New York University. Her M.A.thesis, “Body Doubles: An Examination of Artificial “Reserve Parts” and the Conceptualization of Post-Mortem Bodily Completeness in Ancient Egypt,” was awarded the M.A. Achievement in the Humanities Fellowship by the NYU GSAS.

Smith-Sangster is an active field archaeologist, serving as an excavation supervisor for ASP. She also has extensive excavation experience from years working in Cultural Resource Management and as a unit supervisor at annual field schools.