Two intact marble busts dating back roughly 1,700 years have been uncovered in what Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologists describe as a rare and unexpected discovery from the Roman period.
The statues, known as protomes, appear to depict historical figures from the Greco-Roman world. One of them bears a Greek inscription of the name “Lycurgus,” according to the Israel Antiquities Authority.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime find, very rare, insanely exciting. All the young and veteran staff members were excited,” excavation director Avishag Reiss told The Press Service of Israel.
“In the last 30 years, nothing on this scale, at this level of preservation, has been found. The excitement is tremendous. It is rare. For 1,700 years they were preserved in the ground and no one found them,” she added.
The discovery was unusual not only because of the condition of the statues but also because of where they were found. According to Reiss, the statues were not uncovered where they originally stood. Instead, they had been carefully placed face down inside a Roman-Byzantine winepress pit near the coastal town of Binyamina.
The pit appears to have been used for hiding or storing the statues after the winepress was no longer in use, though the reason remains unclear, said Reiss.
“It is strange that it was found in a winepress, and the way they were buried is strange. Perhaps they were hidden,” Reiss said, explaining that marble was sometimes stolen to be used for other purposes.
Each statue weighs about 60 kilograms (132 pounds) and is 55 centimeters (21.65 inches) tall. Reiss said they may have been placed at a luxurious Roman villa, as the site is located on what was once a main Roman road leading to Caesarea, the region’s ancient port.
During the Roman period, statues of this type appeared in public buildings and elite private homes, Reiss explained. They reflected an effort by wealthy patrons to connect themselves to the cultural and intellectual world of classical antiquity.
The statues were found during an archaeological excavation carried out before construction work for a railway project.
“The workers noticed something unusual and shiny protruding from the soil during the excavation,” Reiss said. “Suddenly, we saw that this was marble. Then, slowly, slowly, the two statues were revealed. I can’t describe the excitement.”
The statues will be presented to the public at the Eretz Israel Museum in Tel Aviv.
