BAGHDAD — An Iraqi archaeologist, who lent her expertise to rebuilding the National Museum’s collection after it was looted in 2003, has died at the age of 80. She was a devotee of Iraq’s heritage and museums, and one of the first female Iraqi archaeologists to excavate the country’s ancient sites. In the years following the 2003 U.S. invasion, al-Gailani helped identify and recover artefacts stolen from the National Museum in Baghdad for its reopening in 2015. She also championed a museum for antiquities in the city of Basra that opened in 2016. Born in Baghdad in 1938, al-Gailani received her PhD in archaeology from the University of London and resided in the U.K.She is survived by three daughters.

Source: Washington Post January 20, 2019 16:03 UTC