An ancient headless statue is found in the middle of garbage in Greece

On the evening of January 18, a 32-year-old Greek man went to the police with an unusual object that he said he had found in a plastic bag among garbage dumps near the northern city of Thessaloniki.

It was a headless, armless statue depicting a female form in a flowing, draped dress.

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

The discovery prompted an investigation between the crime, traffic, antiquities and protection of Greek heritage units into its origins and how it could have ended up in the trash.

The discovery of ancient artifacts in surprising places is not uncommon in a country as rich in history and archeology as Greece. Relics are often discovered during construction projects, such as those preparing for the 2004 Olympics and subway system excavations.

“It’s not the first time” civilians have delivered statues to police stations, Vasilis Tempelis, a spokesman for the culture ministry, said in an email Wednesday.

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

The AP said the statue is about 31 inches tall.

Dr. Bert Smitha professor of classical archeology at the universities of Oxford University and Bilkent University in Turkey, said that the statue appeared to be a small figure of a goddess.

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

“People prayed to deities and made dedications to them in thanks for their favor,” said Dr. Smith. “Small statue figures, like this, would be the dear dedication of a private person.”

The figure’s clothing, which represents a heavy woolen garment, is called a peplos by archaeologists, and it was the common dress of deities. But the arms and head of the statue were lost in the past.

“The weapons could tell what the figure was doing and what attributes it might have been wearing,” he said. And the boss? “It clashed with weapons in the long history of the figure.”