2023-10-25 15:24:21
Irak
Saved from IS – archaeologists find 18-ton sculpture
Researchers have discovered a huge statue during excavations in northern Iraq. Locals previously hid the 18-ton sculpture from the advancing IS terror.
Published25. October 2023, 5:24 p.m
French researchers have made a spectacular discovery in northern Iraq.
So they found an 18-ton stone sculpture of a feathered bull in the village of Chorzabad.
The 2,700-year-old statue of the protective demon Lamassu stood guard at the gates of the ancient city of Dur Sarrukin, where the village is located today.
As you can easily see in the pictures, the head of the sculpture is missing. This has had a place in the Baghdad Museum since the 90s following it was confiscated by smugglers.
Museum Bagdad
The fact that the statue has now been found intact is largely thanks to the thoughtful actions of the residents of Khorzabad in 2014.
When the terrorist organization IS advanced on the village, they hid the statue before fleeing their home.
The details on the 2,700 year old statue are extremely well preserved.
Archaeologists have discovered a 2,700-year-old statue of an Assyrian deity.
Locals previously buried the 18-ton sculpture to protect it from ISIS’s destructive rampage.
The head of the protective demon Lamassu ended up in a museum years ago following it was confiscated from smugglers.
During excavations in northern Iraq, French archaeologists made a spectacular find: the researchers came across a 3.8 by 3.9 meter large and largely intact sculpture of an Assyrian deity. He has never made such a huge discovery, said project leader Pascal Butterlin from the Sorbonne University in Paris on Wednesday. Normally something like this only happens in Egypt or Cambodia.
Winged Bull is over 2700 years old
Die 2700 year old sculpture weighing around 18 tons stood as symbolic protection at the gates of the ancient city of Khorzabad, which is located regarding 15 kilometers north of today’s metropolis of Mosul. It depicts the Assyrian protective demon Lamassu – a winged bull with a human head. The archaeologist enthused that the attention to detail was “unbelievable.”
According to Butterlin, the only thing missing was the head. It was therefore stolen in the 90s, but had Customs officials later confiscated it from smugglers and handed it over to the Iraqi National Museum in Baghdad. Today it is part of the museum’s collection.
Statue saved from IS terror
The fact that the rest of the sculpture has now appeared is thanks to the residents of what is now the village of Chorzabad, said Butterlin. They hid the body of the protective demon in 2014 before they themselves escaped from the advancing jihadist militia Islamic State fled to government-controlled areas. This would have saved the statue from destruction.
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