A colossal winged bull with the head of a deity is removed from the mound of Nineveh in Iraq during Austen Henry Layard's expedition of 1841-45. Getty Images
The unearthed Assyrian lamassu sculpture discovered at the archaeological site of Khorsabad in Iraq's northern Nineveh province. AFP
A crowd of journalists at the site where the human-headed, winged bull was discovered. AFP
Iraqi security forces stand guard at the site. It had been buried in situ by the Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and Heritage to protect it during the conflict and it has emerged remarkably unscathed. AFP
The lamassu's head has been in the Iraq Museum since it was found during a smuggling operation in the 1990s. Photo: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin
A British Museum stone conservator prepares a head of an Assyrian winged bull, which originated from the palace of Ashurbanipal's father, Esarhaddon, at Nimrud in 670 BC. Getty Images
A colossal winged bull with the head of a deity is removed from the mound of Nineveh in Iraq during Austen Henry Layard's expedition of 1841-45. Getty Images
The unearthed Assyrian lamassu sculpture discovered at the archaeological site of Khorsabad in Iraq's northern Nineveh province. AFP
A crowd of journalists at the site where the human-headed, winged bull was discovered. AFP
Iraqi security forces stand guard at the site. It had been buried in situ by the Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and Heritage to protect it during the conflict and it has emerged remarkably unscathed. AFP
The lamassu's head has been in the Iraq Museum since it was found during a smuggling operation in the 1990s. Photo: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin
A British Museum stone conservator prepares a head of an Assyrian winged bull, which originated from the palace of Ashurbanipal's father, Esarhaddon, at Nimrud in 670 BC. Getty Images
A colossal winged bull with the head of a deity is removed from the mound of Nineveh in Iraq during Austen Henry Layard's expedition of 1841-45. Getty Images
