STONY BROOK, N.Y., December 11, 2006 - From the very outset of the Iraq conflict, Dr. Donny George Youkhanna was seemingly ubiquitous as he worked selflessly and tirelessly – often in fear of his own life and those of his family – to safeguard the country’s antiquities and storied cultural heritage. Indeed, Dr. George, President of the Iraq State Board of Antiquities and Heritage and Director General of the National Museum in Baghdad, garnered international acclaim for his efforts in recovering about half of the 15,000 priceless pieces, some dating back as much as 6,000 years and covering key periods of Mesopotamian civilization, that were looted both from the Museum and from the country’s 12,500 archeological sites. He also made the decision to wall off the collections and shutter the Museum about half a dozen times since then, in direct opposition to the Ministry of Culture.
But, several months ago, in the wake of increasing conflicts with the government, including threats to his life and a termination of resources to support the 1,400 members of the special antiquities protection force, as well as the dire security situation brought about by the growing insurgency and anti-Western agenda permeating the country, Dr. George resigned his national post and fled the country.
He has now found a safe haven among Long Island’s bucolic and welcoming surroundings. Stony Brook University President Shirley Strum Kenny has appointed Dr. George to the faculty in the University’s world-renowned anthropology department, home to such superstars as MacArthur “Genius” fellowship recipient and conservationist Dr. Pat Wright, legendary paleo-anthropologist and conservationist Dr. Richard Leakey, and top Middle East antiquities expert Dr. Elizabeth Stone, among many others.
“We are privileged to bring Dr. George to Stony Brook,” said Dr. Kenny. “In the wake of the battle for Baghdad, he demonstrated remarkable courage to save the priceless treasures of one of the important ancient civilizations in history. To be able to provide a safe haven for him, a place where he can freely pursue his work, is, at once, our honor and our responsibility.”
“My appointment at Stony Brook University is another step in my life that was made possible by the generosity of the President of the University and the support of the Department of Anthropology,” said Dr. George, who will begin teaching three courses – Archeology of Mesopotamia and the Cultural Heritage of Iraq – and conducting archaeological research next semester. “This will enable me to serve the cultural heritage that we – all of mankind – have in Mesopotamia, today’s Iraq, with my experience, as well as the great international efforts that are being led by Stony Brook to restore Iraqi education.”
Dr. George’s appointment as Visiting Professor at Stony Brook is co-sponsored by the Scholar Rescue Fund, a program operated by the Institute of International Education to provide refuge to persecuted scholars around the world.
"Recognizing the widespread - and increasing - attacks on Iraq's academic community, IIE's Scholar Rescue Fund hopes to make it possible for established scholars like Dr. George to contribute not only to their host campuses but also to their academic communities still struggling at home,” said Dr. Henry Jarecki, Chairman of IIE's Scholar Rescue Fund. “Partnering with distinguished institutions like Stony Brook is one vital step in preserving Iraq's intellectual capital and the work of hundreds of threatened scholars around the world."
Even before his Stony Brook appointment, Dr. George has had strong ties to the University, nurtured in large measure by Dr. Stone. Since the 1960s, she has been involved in archeological expeditions in the Middle East and has directed fieldwork in Turkey, Syria, and Iraq, where she was one of only five Americans granted permits to do archeological work prior to the first Gulf War. Since the war in Iraq started in 2003, she has worked with the National Geographic Society, the State Department and the Andrew Mellon Foundation to help Dr. George and the Iraq Museum recover from the post-war looting and to document damage to the archaeological sites. She is the only American archaeologist to have made three trips to Iraq between May and December 2003.
Through her initiative, Dr. George came to Stony Brook in October of that year to present a standing-room-only lecture on the conditions and problems that existed at the Iraq Museum.
More recently, Dr. Stone has turned her attention to the plight of Iraqi universities and libraries, leading a Stony Brook-wide effort, funded by an $11 million grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development, to work collaboratively with Iraqi faculty, deans and librarians to restore Iraqi higher education. Under the grant, there have already been a number of professional development workshops, as well as faculty and student exchanges.
“Having known Donny as the bright light within the Iraqi Department of Antiquities for more than 20 years, I am both disappointed that the situation in Iraq has deteriorated so badly that he was forced to leave and delighted that we have been able to provide him with a safe haven," Dr. Stone said. "He brings with him the kind of hands-on knowledge of ancient Mesopotamia that those of us who merely travel there for occasional research lack. But he also brings to our students unique insights into subjects of more general concern. These include issues of international cultural property now important as both the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Getty Foundation have run afoul of Italian law, and a consideration of the American occupation of Iraq here seen by one who cooperated closely with the occupying powers but also had to go to his home in Baghdad every night.”
Dr. George, who received his doctorate in archeology from the University of Baghdad in 1995, has been associated with the Iraq State Board of Antiquities and Heritage and Iraq Museum since 1976.
He has conducted archeological field work at several sites in Iraq, including the Bekhma Dam project, Tell Al-Namel, Nineveh, and Umm Al-Aqarib, and was field director of the Babylon restoration project.
Through his work in the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage, he lectured as a visiting professor in the Department of Archeology at the University of Baghdad and the University of Babylon for Theology and Philosophy.
He is the author of the Architecture of the Sixth Millennium B.C. in Tell Es-Sawwan and The Stone Industries in Tell Es-Sawaan. He has given presentations on the current archeological and museum conditions in Iraq at conferences at the British Museum, at UNESCO in Paris, in Vienna, at meetings of the Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale in London, for the Canadian Society for Mesopotamian Studies at the Royal Ontario Museum, and at the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago. He has been frequently sought out as an expert on the topic by major news organizations throughout the world.
