A man who could be described as the Indiana Jones of Iraq has died, and the world has lost a scholar and a wit:
He grew up fishing with his father, hunting with his grandfather and leading scout expeditions. He was sent to study English literature at Baghdad University but was steered toward a French literature class that held no interest for him. He went to see the assistant dean, who told him the only other opening was in archaeology.
“I asked if that meant living in tents and excavating sites, and when he said yes, I jumped at the opportunity,” he said in an interview with The New York Times in 2006. He earned undergraduate, master’s and doctoral degrees in archaeology from Baghdad University, then went to work for the government antiquities board. Fluent in English, he was sent to many international conferences, where he developed a web of contacts.
He became a member of Saddam’s Baath Party, which meant praising the dictator in public. Professor Stone said it would have been impossible for him to hold the high positions he did without participating in the party in at least minor ways. He would often joke that he worked at faraway digs to avoid party meetings.
But Dr. George believed that even this degree of loyalty was enough to make him a target for revenge by the conservative Shiites, who came to dominate Iraqi politics after the invasion.
Dr. George, who was a drummer in a rock band in his spare time, is survived by his wife, Najat Sarkees; his daughter, Mariam George; and his sons Steven and Martin.
Iraqi government officials dismissed Dr. George’s criticism that they had not done enough to safeguard the country’s ancient relics. They called his complaints a ruse to flee to the United States. He shrugged this off, saying archaeologists take a longer view.
“There are stages such as these, and then there are stages of calm,” he told The Times. “Each can last 100 years, but it passes. A famous Sumerian writer described the scene here in 2000 B.C., saying that people are looting and killing and nobody knows who the king is. So you see, nothing is new.”
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