I am involved in three major projects at the moment.  The first is exploring issues of colonialism, insularity, and connectivity with respect to the relationship between the Dakhleh Oasis and the Nile Valley , particularly in the Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period (c. 2575-2040).  As part of my position as Director of Instructional Programs for the Columbia University Excavations at Amheida, to be assumed full time in fall 2008, I will spend three months in Egypt with students.  January and February will be spent at Dakhleh Oasis, with the latter month devoted to archaeological fieldwork.  March will be occupied with traveling and on site seminars in the Nile Valley .  If you are interested in participating or know someone who might be, please feel free to contact me and be sure to consult: http://www.mcah.columbia.edu/amheida/html/student_info.html

This year I will be at Dakhleh only for January, as I will be a Jane and Morgan Whitney Art History Fellow in The Department of Egyptian Art at the Metropolitan Museum.  During the course of the year, I will be researching and writing a book on Egyptian figurines that focuses on issues of possession, both literal and figurative.  Finally, I am in the process of finishing a book contracted to Blackwell Press entitled Egyptian Imperialism, which explores various episodes of imperialism throughout Egypt ’s history from an anthropological perspective.  Other research interests (subjects of other current and past projects) focus upon divine kingship, the dynamics of political fragmentation, state formation, and various aspects of the relations between ancient Egypt and its neighbors.  In terms of personal background, since completing my doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania in 2001 I have taught on Egypt and on archaic states at the University of Chicago , the University of Michigan , and the University of Wales Swansea .  I have also taught at Columbia and will, beginning in 2008, continue to do so in the fall semester.  I have excavated in the Nile Valley at Abydos and Mendes and will focus upon the site of Amheida for the foreseeable future.

My recent publications include:

2007. On the Ownership of the Saqqara Mastabas and the Allotment of Political and Ideological Power at the Dawn of the State.  In The Archaeology and Art of Ancient Egypt : Essays in Honor of David B. O’Connor, vol. II, ed. Zahi Hawass and Janet Richards.  Cairo : Supreme Council of Antiquities Press, pp. 171-190.

2007. Sacrifice for the State: Royal Funerals and the Rites at Macramallah’s Rectangle. In Performing Death.  Social Analyses of Ancient Funerary Traditions in the Mediterranean , ed. Nicola Laneri.  Chicago : Oriental Institute, pp. 15-37.

2007. What’s So Funny About Anasyrmenê?  Understanding a Curious Episode in the Contendings of Horus and Seth.  In Egyptian Stories: A British Egyptological Tribute to Alan B. Lloyd, ed. Thomas Schneider and Kasia Szpakowska.  Alter Orient und Altes Testament Series.  Münster: Ugarit-Verlag.

2006. Lo, Nobles Lament, the Poor Rejoice.  Social Order Inverted in First Intermediate Period Egypt .  In After Collapse: The Regeneration of Complex Societies, ed. Glenn Schwartz and John Nichols.  Tucson: University of Arizona Press, pp. 58-71.

2006. Bowing and Scraping in the Ancient Near East: An Investigation into Obsequiousness in the Amarna Letters. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 65: 179-195.

2005. The Architecture of Imperialism. Military Bases and the Evolution of Foreign Policy In Egypt’s New Kingdom.  Probleme der Ägyptologie 22. Leiden : E.J. Brill.