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By Yasmine Salamah---
Dr. Lamia Al- Gailani, an Iraqi Archeologist, spent last Wednesday
evening lecturing at the AUB museum to an audience of archeology
and history devotees. The lecture was about the staggering
discovery of hidden Assyrian tombs, belonging to ancient Assyrian
queens, and the uncovering of the exquisite and stunning jewelry
that was buried along with them more than 2700 years ago.
Dr. Al-Gailani had just started introducing the audience to
the city of Nimrud, the ancient capital of Assyria, named
after the legendry Assyrian hunter hero, when a key asset
to the lecture, the projector, broke down. Having to also
deal with a poor quality microphone, the audience grew restless
and louder by the minute as they grumbled about the technical
problems delaying the lecture they so longed for. Quick to
make the most of the situation, Dr. Gailani used the opportunity
to get personal and to interact with the audience, answering
their questions and exchanging comments and observations.
The audience were no doubt sad to see the two way conversation
come to end when the projector finally started working again.
The speaker, however, ended the lecture on a lighter note
as she jokingly said ŌThis is exactly why we archeologists
like to stick to old things. Our old projector was doing just
fine, [and this new one was just trouble.]Ķ Dr. Gailani went
on introducing the city Nimrud, which was situated in Northern
Iraq on the outskirts of Mosul. She would also mention that
British archeologists, Henry Layard, would lead the first
mission in uncovering the Royal Assyrian Palaces during the
1840Õs, and in turn unearth the many archeological structures,
specifically the Nimrud Poles. These treasures would directly
be sent off by him to the British Metropolitan Museum. Eventually
the British abandoned the site and the Iraqi archeological
team took over the restoration of the palaces. Then in April
of 1989, archeologist accidentally stumbled into a hidden
tomb in one of the palaces. In it they found remains of a
very old Assyrian Queen named Yaba. Yaba was estimated to
be an astounding 55 years old when she died, as the life expectancy
then was only 40 years. Along with the remains of her boiled
body, a traditional Assyrian practice of preserving the body,
were jars filled with her intestines and guts, and between
70 to 100 pieces of beautifully engraved jewelry. Soon after,
two other tombs belonging to Assyrian queens were discovered.
They too had delicate jewelry of superb quality and craftsmanship
buried along with them. Although most of the jewelry was gold,
semi-precious stones were also common, as were stone crystals.
The Egyptian influence was evident in the intricate details
on the bracelets, earrings, and anklets through the embedded
figures of different goddesses. The audience, who were stunned
by the beauty of the Assyrian jewelry and who seemed to be
jewelry lovers themselves as was clearly evident through their
eye catching necklaces and trinkets, were moved by Dr.GailaniÕs
lecture and looked forward to next yearÕs archeology related
event.
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