A mundane activity of taking out the trash recently took an unexpected turn for one 32-year-old unnamed man from Thessaloniki, Greece. He discovered a statue among the trash bins that turned out to be an ancient Greek artifact.
The man reported his findings to the local police, who decided to contact experts to learn more about the piece. The headless marble statue has a woman form and was dated to the Hellenistic era, a period between 323 BC and 30 BC.
The Hellenic Police shared the news through its official channels and are currently investigating to learn more about the statue as well as how it ended up in the trash. After the investigation is completed, the statue will be handed over to the Greek Archaeological Service for further studies and preservation.
Experts believe that the statue depicts a Greek goddess and mostly likely belonged to a temple at one point.
“The fact that it is marble suggests that it was probably dedicated in a temple,” Estelle Strazdins, a classical studies expert at the Australian National University in Canberra, told The Washington Post. “Because of the size — around 30 inches — it would not be the main statue in the sanctuary, but it might be a gift that someone has given to the god either to thank them for something or in the hopes of getting some kind of grant.”
These types of discoveries are not unusual in Greece given the country’s rich history. Thessaloniki has especially become a hotspot for such findings in recent times due to the work on the city’s metro network.