ANKARA,
Turkey (AP)--Officials have found a 10-foot-tall statue of Hercules, dated to
2200 B.C., dumped at a construction site in the northwestern city of Izmit, a
news report said Saturday.
Museum officials believe smugglers unearthed
the statue, weighing more than three tons, and left it at the construction site
so that they could retrieve it later, the Anatolia news agency said.
The
head, an arm and a leg of the statue are missing, but Anatolia quoted museum officials
as saying it is the most precious artifact found in Izmit to date.
The
statue has dent marks, which officials believe may have been caused while being
moved with bulldozers.
Museum officials could not be reached for comment.
Despite heavy penalties against smugglers, antiquities and treasures dating
to the Ottoman era are frequently illegally sold to art collectors overseas.
Izmit
is 212 miles west of Ankara, the capital. Izmit is the modern name of the ancient
city of Nicomedia. |
