Earlier 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. He’d found it encased in a black plastic bag next to garbage cans on the street.

A statue dating more than 2,000 years was allegedly found in a black bag near garbage bins in a part of the Greek city of Thessaloniki.

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.

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.

Greek authorities have announced the discovery of a 2,000-year-old marble statue from the Hellenistic period, found wrapped in a trash bag and discarded near garbage bins in Thessaloniki, the country’s second-largest city.