A construction worker first discovered the statue’s marble head during work on the new visitor car park at Burghley House in spring 2023.
A “mysterious” Roman statue, believed to be 1,800 years old, is soon to go on display almost a year after it was unearthed in the car park of an estate in England.
Greg Crawley, an excavator driver, discovered the marble head of a Roman woman in the spring of 2023 during construction of the new Burghley House visitor car park in Stamford, according to a press release. Two weeks later, a marble bust was also found not far from where the head was.
Crawley said he was “quite shocked” when he first saw the object, according to ABC News. He also “couldn’t believe it” when told exactly what he had stumbled upon that day.
Part of a scroll from ancient Herculaneum deciphered by AI 2000 years after the eruption of Vesuvius
Roman statue 1800 years old.
Burghley House
“It was an amazing feeling to find something so old and special,” Crawley said, calling it his “best find ever.”
The British Museum has been notified of the discovery, according to the estate.
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Experts believe the sculpture was brought back to the estate from one of two tours of Italy by Brownlow, the ninth Earl of Exeter, in the 1760s, “when he bought many antiquities,” according to a Wednesday press release.
The head and bust were “immediately taken to Burghley’s curator” after they were found. They were later sent to a professional conservator, who cleared the items “before reassembling both pieces as intended”.
An iron wedge was added to the statue after it was cleaned “allowing it to be attached to a bust or plinth,” according to the estate.
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Roman statue 1800 years old.
Burghley House
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The bust will be displayed next to Hell’s Stairs in the historic Tudor mansion — which dates back to the 16th century — “along with other sculptures purchased by the ninth earl” when the property opens for the spring season on March 16.
How the sculpture ended up buried in the parking lot remains a “complete mystery,” according to the estate.
“It remains a complete mystery how the head and bust ended up buried in the park, with explanations ranging from a botched burglary to someone simply tossing the statue away and it was later covered in dirt,” an estate representative told ABC News.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education