| 2015: Khaled al-Asaad, Palmyra archaeologist Posted: 20 Aug 2020 05:23 AM PDT Syrian archaeologist Khaled al-Asaad was beheaded by the Islamic State on this date in 2015 for refusing them the ancient artifacts of his native Palmyra. Eighty-three years old — Palmyra was still a French colony at the time of this birth — Al-Asaad was involved in excavations around that city throughout his adult life. He became the custodian of the archaeological site in 1963 and held the post for 40 years. When the Salafist militant army rolled up on his oasis city that spring.* he helped to evacuate the town’s museum and Daesh put him to torture to extract the whereabouts of the priceless cultural treasures he’d concealed from them. He made himself a hero to Syria and antiquarians alike by denying his captors any satisfaction save his death — which was accomplished by a public beheading. At least one other scholar, Qassem Abdullah Yehya, the Deputy Director of DGAM Laboratories, was also killed by ISIS/ISIL for protecting the dig site. after Khaled al-Asaad bonepole bonepole since you died there’s been dying everywhere do you see it slivered where you are between a crown and a tongue the question still more god or less I am all tangled in the smoke you left the swampy herbs the paper crows horror leans in and brings its own light this life so often inadequately lit your skin peels away your bones soften your rich unbecoming a kind of apology when you were alive your cheekbones dropped shadows across your jaw I saw a picture I want to dive into that darkness smell the rosewater the sand irreplaceable jewel how much of the map did you leave unfinished there were so many spiders your mouth a moonless system of caves filling with dust the dust thickened to tar your mouth opened and tar spilled out |