Ancient Marble Statues Unearthed at Rail Works Entrance to Binyamina

During railway infrastructure work at the entrance to Binyamina, the Israel Antiquities Authority uncovered two complete marble statues about 1,700 years old. The finds came from excavations for the Coastal High-Speed Rail project being carried out for the Transportation Ministry and Israel Railways. The statues, rare Roman period busts showing the upper body of human figures from the Greek-Roman world, were found carefully placed face down inside a wine-collecting pit from a Roman-Byzantine vineyard press.

Archaeologist Michael Sorotskin said workers first noticed something emerging from the ground during the dig. “We felt we were about to discover something that should not be there,” he said. “Suddenly we realized it was not pottery, but marble. I still struggle to find the words.” Excavation directors Eliran Oren and Avishag Reis said the discovery was unexpected and came on the final day of work. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime discovery,” they said.

Dr. Peter Gendelman, a Caesarea-area specialist with the Antiquities Authority, said one statue bears a Greek inscription with the name “Lycurgus.” He said this may refer either to the founder of Sparta or an Athenian statesman, but the research is still at an early stage. He added that in the Roman era such statues were usually displayed in public buildings or elite homes, and noted that another nearby excavation had previously uncovered remains of a bathhouse. He suggested the statues may have decorated a lavish villa belonging to someone from Caesarea.

The statues will now undergo further cleaning and conservation to identify the figures and the original setting more precisely. They will be shown publicly for the first time on Thursday, June 18, at an archaeology conference at the Eretz Israel Museum in Tel Aviv. Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu said the discovery shows the power of archaeology to open a window onto the lives of people who lived there hundreds of years ago. Museum CEO Gil Omer said it offers the public a rare chance to see an exceptional find shortly after it was uncovered.