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.
Lamia al-Gailani's family says she passed away on Friday in Amman, Jordan. 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.
漏 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
