It is with great pleasure that I report the honour bestowed upon Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin, one of the key contributors to Ancient History et cetera: In conjunction with International Museum Day on 18 May 2016, the Sulaymaniyah Museum honoured Osama’s contribution to the development of the museum, through the publication of several articles detailing the museum, its artefacts, and its discoveries here on AHetc.

We’re incredibly proud of Osama’s achievement, and grateful for his unique and highly interesting contributions to this site, giving us a glimpse of the treasures of Iraq, which are otherwise inaccessible to most of us.

We are very grateful to Dr. Osama Shukir Muhammed, a neurologist at Shorsh Hospital. Despite his daily hospital and military duties, as well as his busy private clinic, he has greatly contributed to the development of this museum. He conveyed our voice to the world through his internationally published articles and pictures about our museum and its artefacts, as well as the archaeological sites of Kurdistan. He has helped the museum’s mission and legacy.
– Mr. Hashim Hama Abdullah, Director of the Sulaymaniyah Museum

After showcasing the mapping work of a French archaeological team headed by Jessica Jiraud, the museum honoured several other people for their role in preserving and protecting archaeological artefacts and sites of Iraqi Kurdistan. Beside Osama, a former prime minister, two former governors, a director of a local organisation protecting Kurdish heritage, and several government officials.

Mr. Hashim Hama Abdullah (Director of the Sulaymaniyah Museum) thanked Osama in his speech about the museum and its 70,000 artefacts, highlighting Osama’s publications about the museum and local archaeological sites, and how they have helped bring the museum into the global limelight.

Readers of AHetc may remember Osama’s landmark article The Newly Discovered Tablet V of the Epic of Gilgamesh or The Nimrud Ivories at the Sulaymaniyah Museum or What a Sensation at the Sulaymaniyah Museum, Iraq. He has also published an investigative piece on the history of a local discovery, which was well-received: The Secret History of Iddi-Sin’s Stela.

Osama received an honorary plaque from Mrs. Shanaz Ibrahim Ahmad, a close relative of the former Iraqi’s president Jalal Talabani. The plaque reads: “Honoring respected Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin on this this international museum day 18/5. You deserve our appreciation and thanks for your faithful efforts to preserve the history and culture of Kurdistan.”

Thank you, Osama, in the name of the Ancient History Encyclopedia team and all our readers, for your valuable contributions to this site, and your dedication to sharing Iraq’s cultural heritage with the rest of the world who can’t visit them in person.

The Sulaymaniyah Museum is the second largest museum in Iraq, after the Iraqi Museum in Baghdad. It houses a vast collection of ancient Mesopotamian items.