A fisherman claims that he found the 1100 lb. statue of the Greek god Apollo off the coast of the Gaza Strip. Experts doubt his story, though it is impossible to investigate since Hamas has seized the bronze statue. From The Independent:
Lost for centuries, a rare bronze statue of the Greek god Apollo has mysteriously appeared in the Gaza Strip, only to be seized by police and vanish almost immediately from view.
A local fisherman says he scooped the 500kg, life-sized bronze from the sea bed last August, and carried it home on a donkey cart, unaware of the significance of his catch.
Others soon guessed at its importance, and the statue briefly appeared on eBay with a $500,000 (£300,000) price tag – well below its true value. Police from the Islamist group Hamas say they are investigating.
To their great frustration, archaeologists have not been able to get their hands on the Apollo, and instead must pore over a few blurred photographs of the intact deity, who is laid out incongruously on a blanket emblazoned with Smurfs.
From what they can tell it was cast sometime between the 5th and the 1st century BC, making it at least 2,000 years old.
The full story includes a video and discussion over the provenance of the object. The story is also reported by the Jerusalem Post. Joseph Lauer notes that the Ebay listing for the statue is still online.
Photo by Reuters
Though I used the SMM in the classroom for 11 years (until nary a one was to be bought, borrowed, or stolen), I was unaware that someone had written a sequel to the marking instructions of
s, by Amos Kloner and Shimon Gibson