Program in Early Cultures

Robyn is an anthropological archaeologist who is currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World at Brown University. She earned her PhD in Archaeology from the University of California, Los Angeles (2022) after completing an MA in Art History at the University of Memphis and an MA in Anthropology from the University of Virginia. She employs interdisciplinary theories and methods in her research to examine sensory experience in the ancient Mediterranean. Specializing in the New Kingdom period of Ancient Egypt, her dissertation specifically investigates how the value of scent impacted the organization of ancient Egyptian society.

Broadly speaking, her research interests include sensory archaeology, ancient Egyptian language, exchange and trade practices in the Eastern Mediterranean, and the historiography of Egyptology and Egyptomania. She is currently working on several research projects including the nature of purification in ancient Egypt, a sensory profile of the ancient Egyptians, and the importance of ancient Egyptian gardens. She has excavated in a variety of locales, including most recently as part of the Abydos South Project.