Education

  • Ph.D., Egyptian Art and Archaeology, Johns Hopkins University (2002)
  • B.A., German and Humanities, University of Texas at Austin (1994)

Research

  • 21st Dynasty funerary practice – reuse, robbery, innovation in a time of crisis, and the 21st Dynasty Egyptian Coffins Database.
  • Craft specialization, socioeconomic value, reception history and taste change in funerary arts; anthropology of funerary rituals and belief; transformative funerary rituals.
  • Gender studies of rule (Hatshepsut) and gender studies of funerary belief (coffins).
  • New Kingdom socioeconomic texts in western Thebes.
  • Sketching, figured ostraca, and communities of practice.
  • Contextual architectural studies, particularly focusing on Theban region.
  • Afro-centrism and Egyptological agendas; the socioeconomics of the Egyptian blockbuster exhibition.
  • Material culture studies: coffins and funerary objects of the Ramesside and early Third Intermediate Periods; Late Period bronze votive statuettes; scarabs, sealings, molds and faience amulets.

Courses

Undergraduate

  • Women and Power in Ancient World (Ancient Near East 15)
  • Art and Architecture of Ancient Egypt, Predynastic Period to New Kingdom (Ancient Near East/Art History CM101A)
  • Ancient Egyptian Civilization (Ancient Near East/History M103A)

Graduate

  • Late Egyptian (Ancient Near East 210)
  • Seminar: Ancient Egypt (Ancient Near East 220)
  • Art and Architecture of Ancient Egypt, Predynastic Period to New Kingdom (Ancient Near East C267A)
  • Art and Architecture of Ancient Egypt, New Kingdom to Greco-Roman Period (Ancient Near East C267B)

 

Books

Articles

  • “Private Sector Tomb Robbery and Funerary Arts Reuse according to West Theban Documentation,” in: Deir el- Medina Studies, Helsinki June 24-29, 2009 Proceedings, J. Toivari-Viitala, T. Vartiainen, S. Uvanto, eds. (Finland 2014): 16-28.
  • “Where does the Masculine Begin and the Feminine End? The Merging of the Two Genders in Egyptian Coffins during the Ramesside Period,” in: Ehrenmord und Emanzipation: Die Geschlechterfrage in Ritualen von Parallelgesellschaften, Geschlecht–Symbol–Religion series, B. Heininger, ed., LIT Verlag (Münster).
  • “Scarab,” UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology (Los Angeles).
  • “The Functional Materialism of Death: A Case Study of Funerary Material in the Ramesside Period,” in: Das Heilige und die Ware, IBAES VII, M. Fitzenreiter, ed., Golden House Publications (London).
  • “An Informal Workshop: Textual Evidence for Private Funerary Art Production in the Ramesside Period,” in: Living and Writing in Deir el Medine: Socio-historical Embodiment of Deir el Medine Texts, Aegyptiaca Helvetica series 19, Andreas Dorn and Tobias Hoffmann, eds. (Basel): 43-56.
  • “Scarabs in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Part I: Intimate Protection or Distributed Propaganda? Scarabs in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art,” co-authored with Johnna Tyrrell, PalArch, Netherlands Scientific Journal 4, 1 (October): 1-13.
  • “Scarabs in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Part II: Catalogue of Scarabs in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art,” co-authored with Johnna Tyrrell, PalArch, Netherlands Scientific Journal 4, 1 (October): 15-98.
  • Changing Burial Practices at the End of the New Kingdom: Defensive Adaptations in Tomb Commissions, Coffin Commissions, Coffin Decoration, and Mummification, in: Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, JARCE 47 (2011), 3-44.
  • “Apprenticeship and Figured Ostraca from the Ancient Egyptian Village of Deir el-Medina,” in: Archaeology and Apprenticeship: Body Knowledge, Identity, and Communities of Practice, W. Wendrich, ed., University of Arizona Press (Tucson), 145-170.
  • “Objectifying the Body: The Increased Value of the Ancient Egyptian Mummy during the Socioeconomic Crisis of Dynasty Twenty-One,” in: J. Papadopoulos and G. Urton, eds., The Construction of Value in the Ancient World, Cotsen Institute Press (Los Angeles): 139-159.
  • Review of Lynn Meskell’s Private Life in New Kingdom Egypt, American Journal of Archaeology 107 (2003).
  • The Production of Private Ramesside Tombs within the West Theban Funerary Economy
  • Gender Transformation in Death: A Case Study of Coffins from Ramesside Period Egypt
  • Labour, in The Egyptian World, Toby Wilkinson, ed.
  • The Daily Offering Meal in the Ritual of Amenhotep I: An Instance of the Local Adaptation of Cult Liturgy (co- authored with J. Brett McClain)
  • Egyptology and Afrocentrism (in German), in: Ma’at Archäologie Ägyptens, No. 2 (2005), 6-11.
  • The Woman Who Would Be King, in Lapham’s Quarterly, 13 August 2014.
  • “The Edifice of Taharqa: Ritual Function and the Role of the King,” Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 37: 15-47.