Absolute Beginner

Workers in Israel found two very old stone statues. The statues are made of white marble.

The statues are about 1,700 years old. They come from the time of the Roman Empire.

Workers found them buried face-down in the ground near a town called Binyamina.

The statues are now in a museum in Tel Aviv. People can go and see them there.

statue

a figure of a person or animal made from stone, metal, or another material

marble

a hard, smooth white or colored stone often used for sculptures

buried

placed under the ground and covered with earth

ancient

very old, from a long time ago in history

museum

a building where important historical or artistic objects are kept and shown to the public

Roman

relating to Rome or the Roman Empire, which ruled much of Europe and the Middle East long ago

discovered

found for the first time

preserved

kept in good condition over a long period of time

Elementary

Two marble busts from the Roman period were found in northern Israel near the town of Binyamina. Workers discovered them during digging for Israel Railways. The discovery was announced on June 15, 2026.

The busts were made in the second or third century CE, making them about 1,700 years old. Each one is about 55 centimeters tall and weighs around 60 kilograms. They were found buried face-down in the pit of an old winepress.

One of the busts has a name written on it: Lycurgus. This is an ancient Greek and Roman name. Archaeologists believe someone hid the statues on purpose to protect them from people who were destroying old pagan statues.

The busts are now on display at MUZA, the Eretz Israel Museum in Tel Aviv. Experts called them a once-in-a-lifetime find because they are so well preserved.

bust

a sculpture that shows only the head, neck, and upper chest of a person

CE

Common Era, the period counted from the beginning of year 1 to today

winepress

a device or structure used to crush grapes to make wine

Byzantine

relating to the Byzantine Empire, which ruled parts of Europe and the Middle East from about 330 to 1453 CE

inscription

words carved or written on a hard surface such as stone

pagan

relating to religions that worship many gods, rather than the Christian, Jewish, or Muslim God

archaeologist

a scientist who studies human history by digging up and examining old objects

excavation

the process of carefully digging up the ground to find ancient objects or structures

Intermediate

Two Roman marble busts, each approximately 55 centimeters tall and weighing around 60 kilograms, were unearthed during Israel Railways construction work near Binyamina in northern Israel, close to the ancient coastal city of Caesarea. The discovery was announced on June 15, 2026, and archaeologists immediately recognized the find as extraordinary.

Dated to the second or third century CE, the busts were found buried face-down in the pit of a Byzantine-era winepress, suggesting they had been concealed there centuries after they were created. One bust carries an inscription bearing the name Lycurgus, a name common in the Greek and Roman world. Scholars believe the statues were hidden deliberately to protect them from early Christian iconoclasm, the widespread practice of destroying images considered to be pagan idols.

The theory of deliberate concealment is supported by the excellent state of preservation of both statues. Had they simply been discarded, they would likely have been broken. Instead, they were carefully placed face-down, which experts suggest may have been a symbolic gesture to hide the faces of the figures from view during a religiously charged period.

The busts are now displayed at MUZA, the Eretz Israel Museum in Tel Aviv, where they have drawn large crowds. Archaeologists have described them as a once-in-a-lifetime find. The site near Binyamina continues to be examined, as further artifacts from the Roman and Byzantine periods may still be hidden beneath the ground.

iconoclasm

the deliberate destruction of images or icons, especially for religious or political reasons

concealed

hidden carefully so as not to be found

deliberate

done on purpose, not by accident

preservation

the condition of something being kept in good shape over time

discarded

thrown away or abandoned

symbolic gesture

an action that carries a deeper meaning beyond its physical effect

artifact

an object made by humans in the past, studied by archaeologists

concealment

the act of hiding something so it cannot be found

Advanced

An Israel Railways construction project near Binyamina in northern Israel, in the agricultural hinterland of ancient Caesarea Maritima, yielded one of the most significant archaeological discoveries in the region in recent memory when workers uncovered two Roman marble busts buried face-down in the fill of a Byzantine-era winepress. Announced on June 15, 2026, the find comprises two figurative sculptures each measuring approximately 55 centimeters in height and 60 kilograms in weight, provisionally dated to the second or third century CE on stylistic and epigraphic grounds.

The physical disposition of the busts - interred face-downward within a structure that postdates the sculptures by at least two centuries - strongly suggests a deliberate act of concealment rather than incidental loss or disposal. One bust bears a carved inscription identifying the subject as Lycurgus, a name attested across the Greek and Roman Mediterranean. Scholars have advanced the hypothesis that the statues were secreted in the winepress pit to shield them from the wave of Christian iconoclasm that swept through the Levant during the Byzantine period, when ecclesiastical authorities and zealous converts systematically destroyed or defaced sculptures, mosaics, and public monuments deemed to represent pagan deities or idolatrous imagery.

The face-downward burial orientation has attracted particular scholarly attention. Several researchers have proposed that inverting the statues was not merely practical but carried ritual significance: by hiding the faces - the locus of identity and divine presence in Roman portrait culture - whoever buried them may have been performing a quasi-religious act of erasure consonant with the iconoclastic ideology of the period, while simultaneously preserving the physical integrity of objects they still considered valuable.

The busts are now on public display at MUZA, the Eretz Israel Museum in Tel Aviv, where their arrival has generated considerable public interest. The site at Binyamina remains under active investigation by the Israel Antiquities Authority, as the stratigraphic context of the winepress and its fills promises to yield further data on the social and religious dynamics of the transitional late-antique period in the coastal plain of ancient Judaea.

epigraphic

relating to the study of inscriptions carved into stone or other hard materials

interred

placed underground; buried

ecclesiastical

relating to the Christian Church and its authorities

idolatrous

involving the worship of images or objects as gods

locus

the center or focal point of something

consonant with

in agreement or harmony with something

stratigraphic context

the archaeological information provided by the layers of soil in which an object is found