Alan Llavore | Office of Marketing and Communications | (909) 537-5007 | allavore@csusb.edu
Axelle Brémont, a scientific research member from 2021-2025 at one of the world’s foremost research institutions devoted to the archaeology and history of Egypt, is joining Cal State San Bernardino as the W. Benson Harer Egyptology Scholar-in-Residence for 2026 spring semester.
She joins CSUSB as part of a distinguished program that brings leading Egyptologists to campus to teach, conduct research, and engage with the broader community. As part of her residency, she will also present a public lecture at the Robert and Frances Fullerton Museum of Art (RAFFMA) on March 10, offering students and community members a rare opportunity to learn directly from an internationally recognized scholar of early ancient Egypt.
During her time at CSUSB, Brémont is teaching a course that invites students to examine how images functioned in ancient societies, with a particular focus on early Egyptian visual culture, titled “How to Read Images: Lost Meanings and Hidden Messages in Early Ancient Egypt and Beyond.”
Her residency will culminate in a public lecture at RAFFMA, “Did a Watched Pot Ever Boil? Detail Analysis & Possible Uses of Decorated Pots in the Predynastic Period,” scheduled for March 10 at 5 p.m. Brémont’s talk will explore Predynastic painted pottery and demonstrate how close observation of form, decoration and traces of use can shed light on daily life, ritual practices and artistic choices in Egypt before the invention of writing.
The lecture is free and open to the public.
Brémont earned her Ph.D. in Egyptology from Sorbonne University and was a scientific research member from 2021-2025 at the Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale in Cairo, one of the world’s foremost research institutions devoted to the archaeology and history of Egypt. Her research focuses on the Predynastic period, roughly 3600 to 3000 BCE, with particular attention to decorated ceramics, animal imagery, and the social meanings embedded in early images. She has published widely in international journals and has participated in archaeological fieldwork across Egypt, Sudan and Saudi Arabia.
Her scholarship is distinctive for its interdisciplinary approach, combining archaeology, art history, and anthropology to better understand how ancient people produced, used and interpreted images. Much of Brémont’s work centers on periods of Egyptian history that predate hieroglyphic writing, requiring her to rely on material culture as a primary historical source. Her research frequently takes her into the field, including work documenting rock art in Egypt’s Eastern Desert, and she is also known for her innovative, student-centered teaching methods.
Her presence at CSUSB strengthens the university’s role as a center for advanced Egyptological study and public scholarship.
Brémont’s residency is part of the W. Benson Harer Egyptology Scholar-in-Residence program, a hallmark initiative at CSUSB that brings prominent scholars to campus on a rotating basis. Through this program, students gain direct access to experts actively shaping the field of Egyptology, while the campus and local community benefit from public lectures, workshops and close collaboration with RAFFMA. The program reflects CSUSB’s commitment to experiential learning and to connecting academic research with public engagement.
Egyptology has a long and vibrant presence at CSUSB through the Department of History and the Robert and Frances Fullerton Museum of Art. The university is home to one of the most significant collections of ancient Egyptian artifacts in California, which plays a central role in teaching, research and outreach. Through courses, museum-based learning, public lectures, and the W. Benson Harer Egyptology Scholar-in-Residence program, CSUSB offers students and community members exceptional opportunities to engage with ancient Egyptian history and the latest scholarship in the field.
