Academic Appointments
Lady Wallis Budge Junior Research Fellow (JRF) in Egyptology
Christ’s College, Cambridge | 2026 – 2030
Elected as a JRF for four years (2026-2030) following an international competition, open to outstanding early-career researchers; one of a small number of named fellowships supporting independent research in Egyptology. Intended research program includes revision and publication of PhD dissertation as a monograph, direction of continued excavation and publication of legacy data from el-Hibeh, and continued publication of Amazigh linguistic material in Egyptological textual sources (Libyan onomastics, Qeheq linguistic data, etc.).
Senior Research Scholar (unpaid)
Center for Middle Eastern Studies at UC Berkeley | 2026 – present
Education
PhD, Near Eastern Studies (Egyptian Art & Archaeology)
University of California, Berkeley | 2026
Dept. of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures (MELC)
Dissertation Title: “Violent Priests, Pious Warlords, and Libyan Elders: Anarchies of Consensus, Coercion and Loyalty in Libyan Period Egypt (ca. 1070 – 715 BCE)”
Dissertation Committee: Profs. Carol Redmount (chair), Rita Lucarelli, Lisa Maher, and Bruce Hall
MA, Near Eastern Studies (Egyptian Art & Archaeology)
University of California, Berkeley | 2021
BA (Honors), Ancient Near & Middle Eastern Civilizations
University of Toronto, St. George | 2019
University College; Minors in German Studies and Arabic Language & Literature
Research & Fieldwork
The el-Hibeh Project
Co-Director (2026 – present)
Field Archaeologist (2024 – 2026)
Archival Researcher (2019 – 2024)
The Incoronata Archaeological Project (Basilicata, Italy), Université Rennes 2
Archaeological Field Supervisor (2023 – 2025)
Field Student (2022)
Archaeological Field School at Nemea (Korinthia, Greece), UC Berkeley
Field Student (2022)
The Egyptology State of the Field Project
Demographic Survey Designer (2020-2021)
The Book of the Dead in 3D Project, UC Berkeley
Researcher (2019 – 2026)
The Abydos Temple Paper Archive Project (ATPA), UC Berkeley & the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (MoTA)
Arabic Translator (2019 – 2022)
The Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Department of Art of the Ancient World
Naga el-Deir Archival Digitization Intern (2018 – 2019)
Departmental Intern (2017)
Publications
Silvestri, Jason. 2024. “The Oldest Berber Text(s)?: Egyptian Evidence for the Ancient Libyan Language(s)” Études et Documents Berbères 49-50.
Silvestri, Jason, Stacy Davidson, Emily Cole, et al. 2024. “Understanding Diversity in American Egyptology.” Interdisciplinary Egyptology 3 (1). https://doi.org/10.25365/INTEG.2024.V3.1.
Awards, Scholarships, & Grants
Competitive Awards & Fellowships
Lady Wallis Budge JRF in Egyptology, Christ’s College, University of Cambridge (October 2026-2030)
ARCE-CAORC Fellowship (2024-2025; deferred)
ARCE Annual Meeting Best Graduate Student Paper Award (2022)
ARCE-Northern California Marie Buttery Memorial Student Grant (2020)
AIA Jane C. Waldbaum Archaeological Field School Scholarship (2020)
Internal Awards, Scholarships & Fellowships
UC Berkeley Dissertation Completion Fellowship (2025-2026)
Kathleen Keller Memorial Scholarship (for fieldwork in Egypt) (2024)
MELC Departmental Fellowship (2023)
Magistretti Fellowship (fall 2019, spring 2020, 2021, and 2022)
Lyle Silver Medal for Near Eastern Studies (2019)
Louis Savlov UC’37 Scholarship (2018-2019)
W.H. van der Smissen Scholarship for German (2018-2019)
Kathleen Beatty Adamson Scholarship in Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations (2017-2018)
W.R. Taylor Memorial Scholarship for Near Eastern Studies (2016-2017)
Louis M. Schwartz Prize for Near Eastern Literature (2015-2016)
Anna & Alex Beverly Memorial Scholarship (2015-2016)
Teaching & Supervision
UC Berkeley
Large Undergraduate Courses (> 100 students)
NES 18 / MELC 18: Introduction to Ancient Egypt
Spring 2021 (TA), Spring 2024 (TA), Summer 2024 (Instructor of Record)
MELC 10: Middle Eastern Worlds: Ancient Egypt & Mesopotamia
Fall 2021 (TA), Fall 2022 (TA)
Upper-Level Undergraduate & Graduate Seminar Courses
MELC 192: Gold, Governance, and the Gods: The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt
Fall 2023 (Instructor of Record)
Service
Conferences Organized
“Ancient Egyptian Writing” online conference, UC Berkeley | Nov. 2021
JAGNES 2020 Annual Conference, UC Berkeley | Spring 2020
Education Programs Organized
Online Tashelhit Language Program, Center for Language and Culture, Marrakesh | Sep. 2020 – Dec. 2022
Conference Presentations
“pTurin 54030: The Oldest Berber Text” (20min) American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE) Annual Meeting (AM), April 2022
“Berber Permanence: A Discussion & Source Workshop” with Sabrina Amrane (120min) Pre-Modern North Africa Working Group, Townsend Center for the Humanities UC Berkeley; February 2024
“How ‘anarchic’ was the Libyan Period?: An assessment of non-state entities during Dynasties 21-24” (20min) ARCE AM Pittsburgh, April 2024
“el-Hibeh Project 2024 Field Season Report” (20min) ARCE AM San Francisco, April 2025; co-author Dr. J. Nitschke
“Life & Death at el-Hibeh: Preliminary Results of the 2024 Field Season of the UC Berkeley el-Hibeh Project (Beni Suef, Egypt)” (20min) ASOR AM Boston, Nov. 2025; co-author Dr. J. Nitschke
“Beyond Tattoos and Ostrich Feathers: Reframing Ancient Libyan Identity in Egypt” (30min) Cross-Cultural Interaction in Egypt through the Ages Conference AUC/ARCE Cairo, Egypt; December 2025
“Social Consensus and Oracular Law in the Libyan Period” (20min) Current Research in Egyptology Annual Conference, Tokyo, Japan; July 2026
Invited talks
“Egyptian Hieroglyphs Workshop” for the UCLA/IFR Egyptology Field School (60min) [Invited] Museo Egizio, Turin, June 2022
“pTurin 54030: The Oldest Berber Text” (60min) [Invited] Dipartimento di Studi Storici, Università degli Studi di Torino, June 2022
“Imazighen: A Brief History of the Indigenous Peoples of North Africa” (90min) [Invited] Guest Lecture for HISTORY 103M proseminar: “North Africa in Three Worlds: Islamic, Mediterranean, and Saharan,” inv. by Prof. Emily Gottreich, UC Berkeley; October 2022
“Digital Paleography in Egyptology: Technical Demonstration & Workshop” (90min) [Invited] Guest Lecture & Workshop for MELC 110 “Digital Humanities and Egyptology” Inv. by Prof. Rita Lucarelli; 2022 & 2023
“The Qeheq Papyrus: A Bridge between Egyptology and Berberology” (60min) [Invited] ARCE Orange County and Northern California Chapter Lecture Series, November 2023 (2 talks)
“Working with the Qeheq Papyrus: An Ancient Berber Text in an Egyptian Script” (120min) [Invited] International Research Network – Afro-Asiatic Languages and Linguistics CNRS, Paris; March 29, 2024
“Egyptology, the Legacies of Colonialism, and the question of Ethnic Anarchy: Historical Case Studies from the Libyan Period (ca. 1070-715 BCE)” (60min) [Invited] New Theoretical Directions in Mediterranean Archaeology Workshop World History Center, Department of History, University of Pittsburgh; April 2024
Professional Memberships & Affiliations
American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE), American Schools of Overseas Research (ASOR), International Council of Museums (ICOM; CIPEG)
Language Proficiencies
English (native), Arabic (MSA, Lebanese: advanced; Moroccan Darija and Egyptian: intermediate), Ancient Egyptian (Old, Middle, Late and Demotic, in hieroglyphic, hieratic, and Demotic scripts; all advanced), Coptic (intermediate), German (advanced-reading), French (advanced-reading), Tashelhit-Berber (advanced), Italian (intermediate-spoken), Ancient Libyco-Berber (advanced), Spanish (intermediate), Ancient Greek (intermediate)
