Authorities say the statue dates back to the Hellenistic period and are investigating how it ended up among garbage. It was worse for the wear, lacking a head and arms.

The discovery of a 2000-year-old headless statue from the Hellenistic period has prompted Greek police to investigate.

Ancient statues have also been found in trash before in other parts of Europe. In 2023, a Roman-era statuette of Venus was discovered in a trash dump in Rennes, France. That same year, ancient bronze statues were found in a garbage dump in Tuscany, Italy.

On the evening of Jan. 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 trash bins near the northern city of Thessaloniki. It was a headless, armless statue depicting a female form in a flowing, draped garment.