1,800-year-old Roman statue discovered in the parking lot

A Roman statue dating back 1,800 years has been discovered by construction workers working on a car park in England .

While renovating the grounds of the 16th-century mansion Burghley House in Peterborough, England, excavator driver Greg Crawley discovered a marble head of a Roman woman at the site. .

This statue is in the collection of the Earl of Exeter, Brownlow Cecil at Burghley House. (Photo: Athens News)

Two weeks later, nearby, a bust was also found and determined to be from the 1st or 2nd century after being cleaned and examined by experts.

Experts have noticed an iron pin was added to the statue, allowing it to be attached to a bust or pedestal - an adjustment commonly made by late 18th-century Italian antiquarians when selling wares. for aristocrats traveling to Italy.

According to a statement from Burghley estate, it is rumored that during one of his two trips to Italy in the 1760s, the ninth Earl of Exeter, Brownlow Cecil , purchased many antiquities and brought sculptures to the estate. Burghley mansion. Mr. Cecil, is an avid traveler and art collector.

Mr. Greg Crawley, an excavator driver, found the statue's head in a parking lot. (CNN photo).

However, the fact that the head and bust were buried in the land to renovate the parking lot remains a mystery. The family does not know the exact cause, many speculate it could be from a careless theft or simply someone throwing away the statue and then it being covered with dirt.

Excavator driver Greg Crawley described the find as an "amazing feeling" and called it "the best discovery ever".

Mr Crawley said: "I was shocked when the bucket rolled over what I thought was a large rock and revealed the face."

"When they told me it was a Roman marble statue, I couldn't believe it ," he added.

The statue will be displayed alongside Earl Brownlow Ceci's other collected works at his Burghley estate, England.