Sergio Alarcón Robledo

In his lecture “Entangled Ritual and Architectural Practices at North Saqqara,” Sergio Alarcón Robledo explores ancient Egyptian architecture through an interdisciplinary approach that sits at the crossroads of archaeology, Egyptology, and architecture. By inquiring about the sensorial experiences of the past, the PhD student in Near Eastern languages and civilizations at the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences seeks to understand why ancient funerary structures changed and evolved into monumental buildings. 

Alarcón Robledo's work reveals that ancient Egyptian cemeteries were much more than mere burial grounds; they were dynamic spaces where identity, power, and wealth were negotiated and redistributed. Sergio’s detailed analysis of the architecture suggests that the tombs of North Saqqara had a life before the funeral happened and that, in these earlier stages of use, the buildings had spaces large enough for crowds to gather and witness impactful ritual practices. 

Through photogrammetry and 3D modeling, Alarcón Robledo reconstructs the lost layout of the North Saqqara site, which serves as the cornerstone of his research. He undertook two seasons of fieldwork and collected thousands of photographs and measurements of the landscape. With this data, he built a three-dimensional model of the site, which has allowed him to trace the shape of the structures that lie beneath its sands. 

Collaborating with experts from Stanford University, Alarcón Robledo employs acoustic analysis to unravel how these ancient spaces would have shaped sound and, consequently, the human interactions that took place within them. His findings show that certain features of the tombs had very particular effects on sounds produced within the human voice frequency range. Whether the ancient Egyptians were aware of this, and whether they manipulated such features consciously is yet to be determined, as this is only the first step of a surely long but promising research avenue. 

Through his research, Sergio Alarcón Robledo not only redefines how we perceive ancient architecture but also invites contemporary audiences to reflect on the complexity and dynamism of past societies. His work exemplifies the transformative potential of interdisciplinary study in unveiling the silent stories embedded within historical spaces. 

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