Archaeologists excavate ancient workshop with unfinished sculptures on Greek island

Archaeologists recently excavated an ancient workshop in Greece, revealing a trove of unfinished projects and other curiosities.
The project was announced by Greece's Ministry of Culture in a Facebook post in May. In a statement translated from Greek to English, officials said the excavation took place at the Floga archaeological site, which is on the Greek island of Paros.
Though the workshop didn't come as a surprise to officials – archaeologists have been studying the site since the mid-1980s – excavators uncovered numerous intriguing finds during the latest dig.
Specifically, the investigation brought "new architectural remains" to light, plus various eating vessels and storage items.
"Some of [the architectural remains] are founded on earlier constructions, documenting the site's continuous use over time," the statement said. "The latest remains are connected to earlier phases dating from the late 5th to the 4th century BC."
The press release added, "The movable finds from the earlier installation (fragments of vessels, mainly tableware for eating and drinking, and fewer utilitarian or storage items) document the residential use of the site during the Classical period."
Archaeologists also uncovered new rooms at the complex, noting the walls were preserved at an "impressive height."
The recently uncovered artifacts at the site included unfinished marble sculptures, clay stamps and various fragments of pottery.
"The movable finds are of exceptional interest, including semi-finished marble sculptures, mainly of Aphrodite, clay heads of female figures, as well as clay molds and stamps, while a very large quantity of pottery was collected," the statement said.
Based on their observations, archaeologists found that the site was reorganized at the end of the third century B.C., serving as both a residential space and a sculpture workshop.
"The discovery of a room with a pebble floor and sections of wall painting imitating marble slabs, identified as an andron (men's room), reinforces this interpretation," the statement said.
"However, the extensive layer of marble chips deposited in the courtyard, covering the earlier phases, and the large number of semi-finished sculptures, document the additional use of the site as a sculpture workshop."
Ancient Greek discoveries are of high interest to archaeologists.
Earlier this spring, a German university announced that the lecture hall of an "impressive high school" from an Ancient Greek settlement was uncovered.
Last summer, divers searched a 2,000-year-old shipwreck in the Aegean Sea and found around 300 historical objects.

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