iMahal Interview Series:
David Gimbel
July 22, 2001

iMahal:  And you still work with John Baines? When will you graduate?

David Gimbel at Oxford

Gimbel:  Yes, I still do work with him. He is still one of my supervisors at Oxford, along with Roger Moorey who is my dissertation director. I also consider John a good friend. I have been very fortunate in that the most profound influences in my life, certainly in my academic life, have been from contact with interesting people who have opened my eyes in some way or led me in different directions. So, he is certainly a very influential figure in my life, as are both Roger Moorey, and Gebhard Selz, the sumerologist from the University of Vienna, with whom I co-directed an excavation in Syria. But right now I'm finishing my dissertation. I hope to submit that in about a month and a half. I should have probably handed it in about a year ago! What happened to me is that I started an organization called Archaeos and then all of a sudden I was involved

..I started an organization called Archaeos..

in directing a whole bunch of different projects and it really waylaid me. It's a peculiar situation. Usually you direct things only after you get the PhD. The idea of directing excavations and survey projects before you get your PhD is really bizarre. It's just not how it's usually done.

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All photographs copyright and courtesy of David Gimbel or Archaeos