Smithsonian Journeys Experts

Chloé Capel is a field archaeologist specializing in the medieval history of North and Western Africa. She received her Ph.D. in Medieval Archaeology from the Sorbonne University (Paris, France) and had been lecturer in Islamic Arts at the Ecole du Louvre (Paris, France) for 10 years. She participated in numerous archaeological expeditions across the Sahara (Egypt, Mauritania, Ethiopia and Niger) and currently works on several archaeological programs in southern Morocco. Dr. Capel is a specialist of the famous caravan city of Sijilmassa, southeastern Morocco and co-directs the archaeological excavations of Aghmat, which was a powerful and thriving medieval city located close to present-day Marrakech.