Archaeology Lecture with Emily Smith-Sangster

Emily Smith-Sangster (Princeton, BMC) will speak on "Decentering Thebes: Material Expressions of Local Identity and Power in Early New Kingdom Abydos". Lunch will be at 12, the lecture at 12:30.

Lecture Abstract:
Examinations of identity in the ancient Egyptian New Kingdom have long centered the Theban experience, often treating it as synonymous with “Egyptian” identity writ large. This lecture challenges that essentialism by privileging a micro-scale, site-specific approach to identity that treats the concept as materially grounded, temporally situated, and geographically anchored. Using the early 18th Dynasty Ahmose Cemetery in South Abydos, first discovered by the Abydos South Project in 2023, as a case study, this talk explores how a non-royal community at Abydos negotiated questions of local identity during a moment of political consolidation and cultural transformation. Through an analysis of funerary practices and associated material culture, this lecture demonstrates that while elements of Theban traditions were adopted by some, identity at South Abydos was not intended as a local imitation of a capital ideal. Instead, this community selectively engaged with broader cultural shifts while developing locally meaningful expressions of belonging, memory, and difference. In doing so, this study reframes identity not as a fixed or nationally uniform construct, but as something actively produced through engagement with specific landscapes, histories, and moments of political transformation.