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.

Police in Greece are investigating the discovery of a 2,000-year-old statue in a black bag near some trash cans in a suburban municipality in the Thessaloniki region on Saturday.

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.