Collections & Research Staff
Clemens Reichel
Associate Curator of the Ancient Near East, ROM
Assistant Professor of Mesopotamian Archaeology, UofT
cand. phil., Mesopotamian Archaeology, Assyriology & Classical Archaeology, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, 1989
M.A., Mesopotamian Archaeology, University of London, 1990
Ph. D., Mesopotamian Archaeology, University of Chicago, 2001
Born and raised in a small town in Southern Germany’s Black Forest, Dr. Clemens Reichel’s interest in archaeology awoke during a trip to Rome at the age of 12. His first encounter with Near Eastern archaeology occurred at the University of Freiburg (Germany). His studies subsequently took him to the University of London and the University of Chicago, where he received his Ph.D. in Mesopotamian archaeology. Dr. Reichel has excavated and surveyed extensively on sites in Turkey, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt. Since 2004 he has been directing the Hamoukar Expedition, a large Late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age site in northeastern Syria that is excavated in a joint project between the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute and the Syrian Department of Antiquities.
Though "a field archaeologist at heart," Reichel’s background includes extensive museum work. Since 1999 he has been the director of the Diyala Project, which aims at the publication of over 15,000 objects from excavations undertaken by the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute in the Diyala Region (Iraq) during the 1930’s in an on-line database. In 2002 and 2003 he was Assistant Curator at the Oriental Institute Museum, working on the reinstallation of the museum’s Mesopotamian Gallery. Following the Iraq War and subsequent looting of the Iraq Museum in Baghdad in 2003, Reichel coordinated the creation of an on-line database of artifacts likely to have been stolen from the museum.
Dr. Reichel’s research interests concentrate on complex societies and the evolution of urbanism. He has a comprehensive background in Sumerian and Akkadian, Mesopotamia’s ancient languages written in cuneiform writing. His publications include studies on "text archaeology" (the archeological use of written sources), seals and clay sealings from the Diyala and Hamoukar excavations, aspects of divine kingship in Mesopotamia, and the current threat to Iraq’s cultural heritage.
Recent Publications
| In preparation | "(ed.) The Origins and Development of Urbanism in NE Syria: The 2001-2007 Seasons at Hamoukar." Oriental Institute Communications. Chicago: Oriental Institute. | In preparation | "Political Changes and Cultural Continuity at the Palace of the Rulers in Eshnunna (Tell Asmar) from the Ur III Period to the Isin-Larsa Period (ca. 2070 - 1850 B.C.)." Revision of Ph.D. dissertation, to be submitted to Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilizations. Chicago: Oriental Institute. |
| In preparation | “Women as Real Estate Owners at Eshnunna - Mesopotamia’s ‘Patrimonial’ Society revisited,” Festschrift Matthew Stolper. Chicago: Oriental Institute. |
| In preparation | “Warfare, Combat, and Urbanism in the Late Chalcolithic Period - new evidence from Hamoukar (Syria) and other sites,” Antiquities. |
| 2008 | “The King is Dead, Long Live the King — the last days of the Shusin Cult at Eshnunna and its aftermath.” Religion and Power: Divine Kingship in the Ancient World and Beyond, ed. by Nicole Brisch. Chicago: Oriental Institute. Oriental Institute Seminars 4: 133-55. |
| 2008 | “Cataloguing the Losses: The Oriental Institute’s Iraq Museum Database Project.” Catastrophe! The Looting and Destruction of Iraq’s Past, ed. by Geoff Emberling and Katharyn Hanson. Chicago: Oriental Institute, pp. 51-63. |
| 2006 | “Urbanism and Warfare — the 2005 Hamoukar, Syria, Excavations,” Oriental Institute News and Notes: 1 – 11. |
| 2005 | “Beyond Cataloguing Losses: The Oriental Institute’s Iraq Museum Database Project, University of Chicago,” Visual Resources 21.1 (March 2005): 93-113. |
| 2004 | “Appendix B: Site Gazeteer,” in T.J. Wilkinson (et al.) On the Margins of the Euphrates. Settlement and Land Use at Tell es-Sweyhat and in the Upper Lake Assad Area, Syria. Tell es-Sweyhat I. Oriental Institute Publications 124, pp. 223-261. Chicago: Oriental Institute Publications. |
| 2003 | “Appendix: Sealing Practice,” in Drehem Administrative Documents from the Reign of Amar-Suena by Markus Hilgert. Chicago: Oriental Institute Publications 121, pp. 603-24. |
| 2003 | “A modern crime and an ancient mystery: The Seal of Bilalama,” in Festschrift Kienast, ed. by Gebhard Selz. Alter Orient und Altes Testament 274: 355-389. |
| 2002 | “Administrative Complexity in Syria during the Fourth Millennium B.C.- the Seals and Sealings from Tell Hamoukar,” Akkadica 123.1: 35-56. |
| 2001 | “Seals and sealings at Tell Asmar - a new look at an Ur III to Isin/Larsa Palace,” Seals and Seal Impressions. Proceedings of the XLVe Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale Vol. II, edited by W.W. Hallo and I. J. Winter, 101-131. Bethseda, MD: CDL Press. |
Galleries
Wirth Gallery of the Middle East
ROM Images
Ancient Near East
The Islamic World
Other Links
Near & Middle Eastern Civilizations, University of Toronto
Hamoukar Expedition - Oriental Institute, University of Chicago
Diyala Project - Oriental Institute, University of Chicago
Contact Information
Department of World Cultures
Royal Ontario Museum
100 Queen's Park
Toronto, ON
M5S 2C6
Tel: 416.586.7938
Fax: 416.586.5877
E-mail: Reichel - ROM
University of Toronto
Department of Near & Middle Eastern Civilization
4 Bancroft Avenue
Toronto, ON
M5S 1C1
Tel: 416.946.0741
Fax: 416.978.3305
E-mail: Reichel - UofT
Dr. Clemens Reichel working in Hamoukar, Syria
Dr. Clemens Reichel, co-director of the excavation at Hamoukar in Syria, works at uncovering some of the evidence of a fierce battle dating back to 3500 B.C.
Location of Hamoukar excavation in Syria.
