More ancient statues, graves unearthed in a Greek field

Estimated read time: Less than a minute

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece's Culture Ministry says a Greek farmer's recent discovery of a fragment of an ancient statue while tilling his field has yielded three more statues and several graves in the past month.

Archeologists have been busy since mid-October, digging part of a field near the central Greek town of Atalanti, 150 kilometers (94 miles) northwest of Athens. The dig began after the farmer found the torso of an ancient kouros (young man) and immediately alerted the authorities.

The ministry said Saturday that a total of four large fragments of life-size limestone statues of young men have been found, along with a triangular statue base. All include torsos, with the largest fragment including a head. Deeper down, seven graves with several unspecified findings have been unearthed, likely part of a larger cemetery.