Assyrian Archaeologist Coming To Turlock

    


Turlock, California – modbee — Donny George Youkhanna, an Assyrian archaeologist and scholar who was instrumental in recovering many of the artifacts looted from the National Museum in Baghdad during the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, will speak at California State University, Stanislaus, on Dec. 13 at 2 p.m. in the Vasché Library West Reading Room.

Sponsored by the university library, the program is open to the public and admission is free. Youkhanna is an Assyrian Christian who was forced to flee Iraq in 2006 along with his family. He is a visiting professor of anthropology at Stony Brook University in New York.

As the former director general of Baghdad’s National Museum, Youkhanna was instrumental in recovering nearly half of the 15,000 Mesopotamian artworks and artifacts that date back almost 6,000 years. They were looted from the museum and Iraq’s 12,500 archaeological sites during the chaos after the 2003 invasion. Proceeds from many of the artifacts sold on the international antiquities black market have helped fund the insurgency in Iraq, according to Youkhanna.