An ancient fragment of a Kouros statue was unearthed on the Yılancı Burnu coast in Kuşadası, Turkey.
At the western coast of the peninsula, soil erosion caused by waves revealed a piece of a Kouros statue. The fragment was identified as part of a statue that had been reused during the Byzantine Period. It was not found in its original location, suggesting it had been repurposed in later eras.
Experts from the Aydın Archaeology Museum removed the piece from its location and brought it to the museum for protection, as noted by Posta.
"Kouros statues were first seen between 615-590 BCE," said archaeologist Levent Kutbay, according to Hürriyet. "Under the influence of Egyptian art, one leg, usually the left, is depicted a step forward, arms are joined with the body, and hands are depicted as fists," he added.
"These statues were generally used as tombstones or monumental markers for young men who died at a young age or young athletes who achieved success in the Olympic Games," said Kutbay, as noted by Hürriyet.
"The ancient settlement at Yılancı Burnu is likely to be one of the cities mentioned by the ancient writer and geographer Strabo (64 BCE – 24 CE), namely Marathesion or Neapolis," said Kutbay. "The ceramic fragments found in surface surveys conducted in the area prove that this place has been inhabited since much earlier dates," he added. The oldest pottery fragments belong to the Early Bronze Age (3000 BCE – 2000 BCE), he said.
The Kouros fragment itself shows signs of alteration from later periods. "During the Byzantine Period, the Kouros statue's surface was scraped, and it was used as spolia," explained Kutbay.
This article was written in collaboration with generative AI company Alchemiq