Iraq dig unearths 2,700-year-old winged sculpture largely intact

A dig in northern Iraq has unearthed a 2,700-year-old alabaster sculpture, the body of a bull and the wings of a bird with 18-tonne measuring about 12.5 by 12.8 feet.

It was commissioned during the reign of King Sargon II who ruled from 722 to 705 BC and erected at the city's gates to provide protection.  Only the head was missing and that was already in the collection of the Iraq Museum in Baghdad after being confiscated by customs officers from smugglers in the 1990s, the dig's French leader said.