{"id":494372,"date":"2026-06-15T20:05:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T20:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/494372\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T20:05:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T20:05:09","slug":"two-ancient-statues-uncovered-during-israel-railways-excavations-near-haifa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/494372\/","title":{"rendered":"Two ancient statues uncovered during Israel Railways excavations near Haifa"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two marble statues depicting Greco-Roman figures were unearthed recently in Binyamina-Giv’at Ada, located near Haifa<\/a>, as part of the Transportation Ministry and Israel Railways \u201cConnecting Israel\u201d project meant to double Israel\u2019s coastal rail lines.<\/p>\n

The two statues, also known as protomes, depict only the figures\u2019 heads and upper torsos and were found buried in a wine-collection pit at a Roman-Byzantine winepress.<\/p>\n

Their discovery was announced on Monday by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) and the MUZA \u2013 Eretz Israel Museum in Tel Aviv.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe statues date back to the Roman period, and interestingly, they were not discovered in situ where they once stood!\u201d explained IAA Excavation Directors Eliran Oren and Avishag Reiss. \u201cMysteriously, they were found neatly laid, face down, inside a wine-collection pit of a Roman-Byzantine period winepress; meaning they were buried when it went out of use.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a once-in-a-lifetime discovery,\u201d added Oren and Reiss. \u201cIt was very unexpected, but somehow, the really big discoveries always turn up on the excavation\u2019s very last day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Israel Antiquities Authority excavation at the entrance to Binyamina, June 15, 2026. (credit: YOLI SCHWARTZ\/ISRAEL ANTIQUITIES AUTHORITY)<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a feeling that we were about to discover something that really shouldn’t be there. Suddenly, we saw that this was not the usual pottery \u2013 it was marble!\u201d said IAA archaeologist<\/a> Michael Sorotskin. \u201cThen, slowly, slowly, the two statues were revealed. I’m still struggling to find the right words. It is simply wondrous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Peter Gendelman, an IAA Caesarea region expert, noted that the last time such a statue was found in Israel was in the 1990s.<\/p>\n

He added that one of the protomes bears a Greek inscription naming Lycurgus.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo significant people with this name are known from Greek history,\u201d explained Gendelman. \u201cLycurgus of Sparta, its founder, and Lycurgus of Athens, a famed 4th century BCE statesman and orator. Possibly this statue may prove to be of one of these two historical figures, but our research is just beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Statues of this kind were commonly displayed during the Roman period in public buildings and homes belonging to the elite, who “sought to connect themselves to the cultural and spiritual world of antiquity,” Gendelman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot far from the discovery site, remains of a bathhouse were previously uncovered, and it is possible that the statues decorated a luxurious villa of a Caesarea resident.\u201d<\/p>\n

MUZA Ceramics Pavilion Curator Yelena Elgart-Sharon said that the protomes offer the public a rare opportunity in the process of \u201crevealing the past almost in real time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Statues to go on display during MUZA’s annual archaeology conference<\/p>\n

The protomes are slated to go on display for the first time during the Center VII -The Domestic House\u201d annual archaeological conference, scheduled for Thursday at MUZA, in collaboration with the IAA, Tel Aviv University\u2019s Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology, and Bar-Ilan University\u2019s Institute of Archaeology of the Martin (Szusz) Land of Israel Studies Department.<\/p>\n

The statues will be on public display at the museum throughout the summer months.<\/p>\n

After their initial public display, the statues will undergo cleaning, conservation, and further research, hoping to identify who they depict and the exact ancient context in which they were originally placed.<\/p>\n

Discovery shows ‘public power of archaeology,’ says heritage minister<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not every day that 1,700-year-old marble statues<\/a> are uncovered in such an impressive state of preservation,\u201d said MUZA Director-General Gil Omer. \u201cWe are proud to be the place where the public will be able to encounter this extraordinary discovery for the first time, and to continue seeing it after the conference as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPresenting the statues in MUZA\u2019s Ceramics Pavilion is a rare opportunity to introduce visitors to an exceptional archaeological find shortly after its discovery, and to connect them with a fascinating story.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu added that the discovery demonstrates the \u201cpublic power of archaeology.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOne moment we are working on a modern infrastructure project,\u201d he said, \u201cand the next moment a window opens into the lives and cultural world of those who lived right here many hundreds of years ago.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s role, he added, is to preserve and make accessible archaeological finds belonging to all cultures<\/a>, so that \u201ceveryone can encounter and form their own close-up impressions of our country\u2019s rich and broad past.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two marble statues depicting Greco-Roman figures were unearthed recently in Binyamina-Giv’at Ada, located near Haifa, as part of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":494373,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2523,2520,227799,24741,85,46,6233,60019,43,21370,140551,3560],"class_list":["post-494372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-archaeological-site","tag-archaeology","tag-binyamina","tag-haifa","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-israel-antiquities-authority","tag-marble","tag-news","tag-rabbi-amichai-eliyahu","tag-romans","tag-statue"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=494372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/494373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=494372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=494372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}