Two 1,700-year-old Roman-era marble statues discovered in Israel

JERUSALEM, June 15 (Xinhua) -- Israeli archaeologists have discovered two rare marble statues in northern Israel, dating back 1,700 years, the Israel Antiquities Authority said in a statement on Monday.

The finds were uncovered near the town of Binyamina during an excavation ahead of the construction of a coastal high-speed railway.

The statues, described as protomes featuring human heads and upper torsos, depict figures from the Greco-Roman world. One of them bears the Greek name "Lycurgus."

Archaeologists said the statues were not found in their original standing position but were laid face down inside a wine collection pit of a Roman-Byzantine winepress, suggesting they were deliberately hidden after the site went out of use.

The reason for their burial remains unclear, though researchers believe they may have been preserved intentionally.

Such statues were typically displayed in elite homes and public buildings during the Roman period. The nearby remains of a bathhouse suggest the area may once have been part of a wealthy Roman villa complex in the Caesarea region, archaeologists said. Enditem