Anniversary of Late Iraqi Archaeologist, Danny George, celebrated

THI-QAR / IraqiNews.com: Iraq ’s Writers Federation has celebrated on the hall of the Cultural Center in southern Iraq ’s city of Nassiriya the anniversary of the outstanding Iraqi Archaeology Scientist, Donny George, including lectures by two American Archaeology Scientists about the society in Ancient Iraq.   “We have organized, through cooperation with the Tammuz (July) Organization for Social Development, an anniversary celebration for the Iraqi Archaeology Scientist, Donny George, who had worked with a pure Iraqi spirit in the field of archaeology, suffering from continuous ignorance; that is why he deserves from us to celebrate his efforts to revive the human civilization that emerged on this Land and its favor on humanity as a whole,” the Chairman of the Iraqi Writers Federation, Yasser al-Barrak, told IraqiNews.com news agency.   “We are celebrating our Symbols, because we had been the people, who had established the history, as Samuel Noah said that (History had began in Someria), being a message we throw into a silent water and expect an official reaction, that might revive this great humanitarian history and unexploited fortune, care for it and deal with it in a decent manner,” Barrak said.   On his part, the Iraqi Archaeologist, Abdul-Amir al-Hamdani told IraqiNews.com: “We are celebrating the departure of Dr. Donny George, one of the pillars of the Iraqi Archaeological School, after his Master, Late Dr. Taha Baqir, to evaluate his efforts to protect the Iraqi Archaeology and his participation to restore the smuggled archaeological antiques, along with his archaeological excavation efforts in northern and southern Iraq.”   The first part of the celebration was allocated for speeches and documents, highlighting the achievements of the Iraqi Archaeology Scientist, Donny George, who died abroad in March last year, whilst the second part for a lecture by Dr. Elizabeth Stone from New York University, entitled: “The Anthropologist Formations of the State and Society in Ancient Iraq,” in an attempt to reply questions about the nature of the ancient Iraqi society.   “According to the archaeological maps and historic founds, the ancient Iraqi cities differs from the current ones, as they had been collective and not based on class differences, that allow the existence of areas for the rich people, as it is clear from Shapir Archaeological area, north of Diwaniya, whilst social life had been identical to those nowadays, where marriage celebrations are classical, carried out by the families,” Dr. Stone said.   She said that “the people in old cities had been depending on pigs to supply their meat food, bringing it up in southern marches, whilst sheep were presented for sacrifices and dependence on cows had been rare!”   The third part of the celebration listened to a lecture by Dr. Paul Zimansky from New York’s Stony Brook University, entitled: “From the Marches to the Empire – Southern Iraq’s Prosperity from 750 to 600 BC,” in which he spoke about the reasons for the existence of the world’s first civilizations in southern Iraq and its control on the ancient world, and its re-emergence after the end of several factors.   The celebration had also witnessed a broad presence by leading personalities, including Iraq’s former Minister of Culture, Mufid al-Jazaery, the Researchers, Najih al-Maamoury and Jassim Aasi, as well as several other intellectuals and activists, crowed by the said Cultural Center.   Late Dr. Donny George, was born in Iraq in 1950 and died in Canada in 2011, and had been the Leading Official, in charge of the Iraqi National Museum, who kept it away from burning, as well as his success to restore more than 5,000 archaeological founds and antiques, through his personal efforts.   As for Dr. Elizabeth Stone, she is considered one of the leading Archaeological Scientists, who had carried excavations in Iraq , beginning from the 1