Tracy L. Spurrier and Dr. Clemens Reichel - from ROM

Tracy: As the contract assistant curator for the ROM's engagement of Mesopotamia: Inventing our World, Tracy Spurrier combines her extensive knowledge of ancient Mesopotamia with her love of sharing ancient cultures with the public. Always interested in archaeology, Tracy decided to dedicate her life to the profession following her first introductory class as a university freshman. She earned a BA in archaeology with a minor in anthropology from Boston University's esteemed Archaeology Department. Tracy pursued her interest in the Middle East through an MA in Near Eastern Archaeology from the University of Toronto where she is currently working on her PhD specializing in Mesopotamia. At U of T, she teaches a course on ancient Mesopotamian and Egyptian mythology and has been involved with a number of ancient culture projects and enthusiast groups. She has extensive archaeology fieldwork experience excavating at numerous sites in Spain, Egypt, Syria, and Turkey, including the dig at Tell Hamoukar in Eastern Syria directed by ROM curator Dr. Clemens Reichel... Dr. Clemens Reichel: With the ROM since 2008, Dr. Reichel was born and raised in a small town in Southern Germany's Black Forest. His interest in archaeology originated during a childhood trip to Rome and his first encounter with Near Eastern archaeology came as a student at University of Freiburg (Germany). Dr. Reichel's studies then took him to the University of London and onto the University of Chicago, where he received his Ph.D. in Mesopotamian archaeology. He has excavated and surveyed sites throughout Turkey, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt. Since 2004 Dr. Reichel has directed the Hamoukar Expedition, a large Late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age site in northeastern Syria, a joint project of the University of Chicago's Oriental Institu ute and the Syrian Department of Antiquities.