Cool FindsA Man Found a Mysterious Statue in a Trash Bag on the Street. It Turned Out to Be a 2,000-Year Old Greek ArtifactAfter discovering the ancient artwork in a suburb of Thessaloniki, Greece, the man surrendered it to the police. Authorities are analyzing the statue and investigating why it was abandoned The recently discovered statue is missing its arms and head. Greek PoliceEarlier this month, a 32-year-old Greek man brought something remarkable to his local police station: a statue of a woman draped in flowing cloth, missing its arms and head. Hed found it encased in a black plastic bag next to garbage cans on the street.Authorities called in experts to examine the piece. According to a statement from the Greek police, they determined that the statue dates back to GreecesHellenistic periodwhich lasted from the death ofAlexander the Great in 323 B.C.E. until around 31 B.C.E.This is not the first time a civilian has handed over a statue to police, as Vasilis Tempelis, a culture ministry spokesperson, tells theNew York Times Christine Hauser. Plans to investigate the circumstances and analyze the statue are already in motion.Local police have turned over the statue to investigators from Greeces Cultural Heritage Protection Office. The piece will be sent to a forensic laboratory for analysis before making its way to the local antiquities authority. As the Associated Press Costas Kantouris reports, police have questioned one man about the discarded statue and released him without charge.The artifact was found in Neoi Epivates, a suburb of Thessaloniki, Greeces second-largest city, per the AP. Its just over 31 inches tallabout the length of abaseball bat. AsBert Smith, a classical archaeologist at Oxford University, tells the Times, the marble statue was probably made for religious purposes.The small size is typical for such marblevotives set up to divinities in sanctuaries or temples, he says. In ancient Greece, people prayed to divinities and made dedications to them in thanks for their favor.Greeces three-century-long Hellenistic era was marked by cultural expansion and exchange. Alexander the Great died without a successor, leaving the vast empire hed conquered to be divided into three large kingdoms, which secured Greek influence throughout the Middle East and into South Asia. Greece became more cosmopolitan, and its philosophy and art scenes flourished.Unlike the detached idealism found in the sculptures of GreecesClassical periodduring the fifth and fourth centuries B.C.E.Hellenistic sculptures reflected a new awareness of personality and introspection by showing realism and human emotion,wrote art historian Summer Trentin and classicistDebby Sneed in 2018. Hellenistic sculptors paid special attention to draped fabric, like the dress worn the famousWinged Victory of Samothrace, and the female body, as seen inAphrodite of Knidos.AsEstelle Strazdins, a classicist at theAustralian National University, tells theWashington Posts Rachel Pannett, the recently discovered statues loose, draping clothingas well as its marble compositionsuggest the piece depicts a goddess. Contemporary sculptures of earthly Greek women were usually made from terra-cotta and depicted them clothed in tight cloaks.Strazdins also thinks the statue was dedicated in a temple. However, its small size suggests it wasnt the main statue in the sanctuary, she says. 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.The statues garb appears to be apeplos, a one-piece wool garment, per the Times. Still, the statues missing limbs make discerning its identity difficult. As Smith tells the publication, The arms might tell us what the figure was doing and what attributes it may have carried.This more than 2,000-year-old artifact is one of thousands found in and around Thessaloniki in recent years. The citys two-decade-long construction of a new subway systemwhich opened last monthunearthed over 300,000 archaeological finds illustrating Greeces ancient history.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Archaeology, Art, Art History, Artifacts, Arts, Cool Finds, Greece, Sculpture, Statues