A British construction worker driving a digger through a parking lot discovered an 1,800-year-old statue of a Roman woman mysteriously buried underneath.
Hardhat-turned-accidental archeologist Greg Crawley was driving his excavator in the lot of the Burghley House – a historic 16th century manor in Stamford 90 miles north of London – when he spotted a “pale object amongst the lifted earth,” according to a new press release from the UK estate announcing its latest exhibit.
“I had a real shock as the digger bucket rolled over what I thought was a big stone to reveal a face,” Crawley said. “When I picked it up, I realized it was the head of a statue.
“I couldn’t believe it when they told me it was a Roman marble statue,” he added. “It was an amazing feeling to have found something so old and special – definitely my best ever discovery.”
Burghley House said the discovery was made in the spring of 2023, with the bust of the marble statue found just two weeks later a short distance from the parking lot.
Both items were taken in by Burghley’s curator and handed off to experts, who cleaned and dated the pieces to find that they originated from the First or Second Century.
Officials believe the statue was purchased during one of the ninth Earl’s two tours to Italy in the 1760s, as the antiquity featured an iron dowel that Italian dealers added to excavated treasures at the time to make them more appealing to aristocrats looking to add to their collections.
While experts seem to agree on how the statue got to the Burghley House, questions remain on how it ended up buried outstate the manor.
“It remains a complete mystery how the head and bust ended up buried in the park, with explanations ranging from a bungled burglary to someone simply discarding the statue and it later being covered by soil,” Burghley House officials said.
The discovery was reported to the British Museum, but for now, the two pieces were consolidated into their original form and put on display at the Burghley House.
The 1,800-year-old statue is currently placed along the Hell Staircase alongside the other statues that were purchased during the ninth Earl’s Italian tour.
