Lianna Sternklar

Lianna Sternklar is a PhD student in Near & Middle Eastern Civilizations at the University of Toronto, specializing in Egyptology and Egyptian archaeology. Her research focuses on settlement archaeology and urbanism in ancient Egypt, with particular interest in the relationship between monumental architecture—especially New Kingdom palatial complexes—and broader questions of social organization, administration, and statecraft. She also works extensively with material culture, emphasizing ceramic analysis as a tool for understanding economic networks, cultural interaction, and daily life. She has participated in excavations across Turkey, Georgia, and Italy, most recently serving as a Registerer and Assistant Square Supervisor with the Tell Tayinat Project.

Lianna also works extensively with digital tools to manage, analyze, and interpret archaeological data, drawing on spatial‑mapping technologies and large research databases. She is committed to strengthening archaeological data management practices to ensure that excavation records are accurately preserved, organized, and accessible for ongoing research.

At the University of Toronto, Lianna works as a Teaching Assistant for courses on archaeological data science and ancient Egyptian culture. She also serves as a research assistant with U2Egypt, where she analyzes and annotates geo‑referenced archival aerial photographs and contributes to a remote survey of the Nile Delta. Her first peer-reviewed article, on Egyptian blue-painted pottery in the Royal Ontario Museum, was published in The Journal of the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities.

Education

• MA in Near & Middle Eastern Civilizations, University of Toronto (2025)
• BA in Classical Studies, McGill University (2022)

Current Supervisor(s)

• Andreas Winkler
• Oren Siegel

Publications

“Blue-Painted Pottery in the Royal Ontario Museum.” Journal of the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities 51: 89-112. (2025)