The statue will first be sent to forensic experts for examination to determine who threw it away, and will then be transferred to be examined by archaeologists
A marble statue of a woman more than 2,000 years old was found abandoned inside a garbage bag on the outskirts of the Greek city of Thessaloniki, Greek police revealed on Wednesday.
A resident of the city of Nei Epivates, located on the outskirts of the country’s second largest city, discovered the headless statue, 80 centimeters tall, inside a bag thrown next to a garbage container.
The man handed the piece over to local authorities, who contacted archaeologists to assess its significance.
According to the police statement, experts, after an initial assessment, determined that the statue dates back to the Hellenistic era, a period that lasted approximately between 320 and 30 BC, and in which the conquests of Alexander the Great helped the flourishing of Greek art.
The statue will first be sent to forensic experts for examination to determine who threw it away, and will then be transferred to be examined by archaeologists.
The accidental discovery of archaeological artifacts is relatively common in Greece, a country known for its heritage, and usually occurs during the construction of buildings or public works.
In December, workers installing natural gas pipelines discovered a Roman-era statue of the god Hermes buried vertically in a brick-lined shaft near the Acropolis in Athens.
Furthermore, the opening of Thessaloniki’s first metro line in November brought to light tens of thousands of antiquities that were discovered during the two decades of its construction.
Venizelos station, in the city center, houses a 1,200 square meter underground archaeological site, where passengers can see a Roman marble road and a set of ancient public baths (thermal baths), among other finds.
