Remembering,
Khaled al-Asaad 'Mr Palmyra'
Cause of death : Decapitation
In May 2015, modern Palmyra and the adjacent ancient city came under the control of the Islamic State. Al-Asaad helped evacuate the city museum prior to the Islamic State's takeover, but was himself captured by the terrorist organisation. The Islamic State then tortured al-Asaad in an attempt to discover the location of the ancient artifacts that he helped hide. He was murdered in Palmyra on 18 August 2015 at the age of eighty-three.
The New York Times reported:
After detaining him for weeks, the jihadists dragged him on Tuesday to a public square where a masked swordsman cut off his head in front of a crowd, Mr. Asaad's relatives said. His blood-soaked body was then suspended with red twine by its wrists from a traffic light, his head resting on the ground between his feet, his glasses still on, according to a photo distributed on social media by Islamic State supporters.
In February 2021, Syrian state sources reported the discovery of al-Asaad's body in the countryside 10 km east of Palmyra.[22]
Along with al-Asaad, Qassem Abdullah Yehya, the deputy director of the DGAM Laboratories, also protected the Palmyra site, and was murdered by the Islamic State while on duty on 12 August 2015. He was thirty-seven years old
"he had a degree in history from Damascus University, he had no formal training in archaeology - all his knowledge in this field was self-taught."
"When you look at Palmyra today as an archaeological site, really that's the legacy of Khaled al-Asaad," Mr Azm says.
Here, you can read about the antiquties of Palmyra
This is the source I found so far, with details and colored pictures about his work and legacy
Al-Assad was one of the few people on Earth who was fluent in the language of ancient Palmyrian. By the end of his career, he had translated over 3000 lines of text. In addition, he taught himself English to be able to communicate with visitors and scholars interested in the area.
