Donny George Youkhanna

Donny George Youkhanna was an Iraqi-Assyrian archaeologist, anthropologist, author, curator, and scholar, and a visiting professor at Stony Brook University in New York. He was born in Habbaniyah, Iraq in 1950 to Assyrian parents from northern Iraq. He moved with his family to Baghdad during his childhood, where he gained his education. He obtained a BA, MA, and PhD in prehistoric archaeology at the University of Baghdad. He was fluent in Aramaic, Arabic, and English. Youkhanna was the Director General of Iraq's National Museum, Chairman of the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage and the President of the Iraq State Board of Antiquities and Heritage. He conducted excavations in the Bekhme Dam area, Nineveh, and Tell Umm al-Aqarib as well as working on many restoration projects in Babylon, Nimrud, Nineveh, Ur and Baghdad. He authored two books on the structural design and stone industries of Tell es Sawwan, and gave several presentations on the current museum conditions and historical archaeological sites of Iraq. Youkhanna was instrumental in recovering over half of the 15,000 Mesopotamian artifacts looted from the National Museum in Baghdad during the invasion. A majority of the artefacts date back to 6,000 years from the ancient empires of Assyria and Babylonia. He fought his way through to the Iraq National Museum in the days after the American-led invasion of Iraq and tried to stop the looters ransacking it but was unable to persuade American soldiers to protect it because they had been given no orders to do so. He became the international face of the plight of ancient sites and artefacts in Iraq, many of which were stolen or destroyed during the invasion. Due to threats from unknown militia groups during the US occupation of Iraq, Youkhanna was forced to flee Iraq with his family first to Syria and then to the United States in 2006, to take up a position as visiting professor at Stony Brook University in New York. He died on 11 March 2011 as a result of a heart attack while he was travelling via Toronto Pearson International Airport, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was 60.