Emily Smith-Sangster

Emily Smith-Sangster, Ph.D. (Princeton, 2025), is a scholar who specializes in the art and archaeology of ancient Egypt and the MENA region. In her teaching, she is deeply invested in the critical interdisciplinary study of the ancient world and the study of global art historical patterns more broadly, with an emphasis on local variation, style, and artistic agency.

Dr. Smith-Sangster’s research currently examines the intersection of identity, memory, and local practice at the site of the Ahmose Cemetery in South Abydos, Egypt. She is also interested in depictions of gender, identity, and disability in the artistic canon of ancient Egypt, which has influenced her past publications. Dr. Smith-Sangter is an active field archaeologist and currently serves as the Associate Director of the Abydos South Project Archaeological Mission and has held academic appointments at Bryn Mawr College, CSUSB, Princeton University, New York University, and the Pratt Institute.

Ph.D. Art History and Archaeology, Princeton University

M.A. Art History and Archaeology, Princeton University

M.A. Ancient Near Eastern and Egyptian Studies, New York University

B.A. Anthropology, Monmouth University

Selected articles/book chapters:

Forthcoming “How to Heal a Blessing: Perspectives on Disabilities and Healing in Pharaonic Egypt,” in A. Peterson and M. Lee (eds.), At the Crossroads of Care and Cure: Healing in the Pre-Modern World, Routledge.

2025 “Limbs Counted by the Gods: Proposing the Concept of Artificial ‘Reserve’ and ‘Replacement Parts’ in the Old Kingdom,” Rethinking Ancient Egypt; Studies in Honor of Ann Macy Roth, Harvard Egyptological Studies, Brill, 2025.

2024 “Defining the Idealized Body: A Reexamination of Depictions of Dwarfism in Old Kingdom Art,” in A. Morris and H. Vogel (eds.), All Our Yesterdays: Disability in Ancient Egypt and Egyptology, Routledge Studies in Ancient Disability, 2024.

2021    “Crutched Pharaoh, Seated Hunter: An Analysis of Artistic ‘Portrayals’ of Tutankhamun’s Disabilities,” JARCE 57 (2021).