An ancient headless statue was found among the garbage in Greece

In the evening of January 18, a 32-year-old Greek man appealed to the police with an unusual item he said he found in a plastic bag among the trash cans in the north of Thessaloniki.

It was a headless, armless statue.

the police announced on Wednesday the statue was believed to date from the Hellenistic period, from 323 BC to about 31 BC, after the death of Alexander the Great.

The find has sparked an investigation among Greece’s crime, human trafficking, antiquities and heritage protection units into its origins and how it could have ended up in the dump.

In a country as rich in history and archeology as Greece, it is not unusual to find antiquities in surprising places. Debris is often removed during construction projects, such as in preparation for construction 2004 Olympics and excavations of the subway system.

Culture Ministry spokesman Vasilis Tempelis said in an email Wednesday that “this is not the first time” that civilians have handed over statues to police stations.

The Ministry of Culture has completed a preliminary examination of the statue and concluded that it complies with Greek laws protecting antiquities, police said. A panel of three will try to determine its composition and date.

AP reports statue is approximately 31 inches tall.

Dr. Bert SmithA professor of classical archeology at Turkey’s Oxford University and Bilkend University said that the statue appears to be a small-sized goddess figure.

“The small size is typical of such marble votive offerings to deities in sanctuaries or temples,” he said in an email, basing his observations on official photos of the statue.

“People prayed to the gods and made dedications to them, thanking them for their grace,” said Dr. Smith. “Small statues like this would be an expensive sacrifice by a private person.”

The figure’s clothing, which depicts a heavy woolen cloth, is a peplos by archaeologists and was the common dress of the gods. But the arms and head of the statue have become a thing of the past.

“The arms can tell us what the figure does and what attributes it carries,” he said. What about the head? “He was struck with arms in the long later history of the figure.”