A marble statue of a woman, believed to be more than 2,000 years old, was discovered abandoned in a garbage bag near the Greek city of Thessaloniki, as reported by the police on Wednesday.
The 80-centimeter (31-inch) headless statue was found by a resident beside a trash bin in Neoi Epivates, located outside Greece's second-largest city. The man who found it promptly handed it over to local authorities, who then contacted archaeologists to evaluate its historical significance.
Upon an initial assessment, experts confirmed that the statue dates back to the Hellenistic era, a period spanning from 320 to 30 B.C. characterized by a rich cultural and artistic heritage following the conquests of Alexander the Great.
The statue has been sent for further examination by archaeologists and will eventually be entrusted to the local antiquities authority for preservation and in-depth study.
An investigation has been initiated by the police to identify the individual responsible for discarding the statue. A man was briefly detained for questioning in connection with the incident but was later released without charges.
Greece is no stranger to accidental archaeological discoveries, often unearthed during construction projects or public works. In a similar incident last December, workers installing natural gas pipelines near Athens stumbled upon a Roman-era statue of Hermes buried upright in a brick-lined pit near the Acropolis.
Thessaloniki, in recent weeks, unveiled a collection of antiquities unearthed during the extensive construction of its metro system, which officially opened in November. Notable discoveries from this excavation include a marble-paved Roman thoroughfare and tens of thousands of artifacts spanning various historical periods such as Greek, Byzantine, and Ottoman, now on display at subway stations.
