On May 11, an excavator was opening a ditch near Almadraba Beach in Alicante, a city on the eastern coast of Spain, at a spot very near an archeological site. The construction work was part of a municipal project to improve the beach area. The machine’s bucket drew the usual objects from the ground: rocks, pebbles, even a few beer cans. Then, suddenly, one of the workers signaled the machine operator to stop. A white marble sculpture representing a female head was sticking out among the rubble. The 2,000-year-old object was initially placed inside a supermarket bag with a bit of bubble wrap around it.
Two weeks later, city officials disclosed the find. They said the sculpture was made some time between the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, during the early days of the Roman Empire. Calling it the Venus of Alicante, they made it the new symbol of the city. Meanwhile, the ditch where the head was found was filled with cement.
Local government officials commended the construction workers for calling in and halting further work, but noted that their company had failed to warn the supervising archeology firm, ARPA, that they were going to open a ditch in the area in the first place. The work was taking place near the Almadraba site, which has in the past turned up ceramic items, amphorae, coins, oil lamps and more. This spot, in turn, is very near the remains of Lucentum, the Roman settlement that is at the origin of the city of Alicante.
Opposition groups have asked for more details about the circumstances surrounding the find, and about the planned future for the sculpture. They also want to know whether Spain’s Ministry of Culture is aware of the find. In the meantime, the local government refuses to publicly acknowledge the names of the individuals who found the head, Gonzalo Heredia, Sergio and Aziz, who want the city to put up a plaque with their names.
The head was provisionally placed in storage at the Alicante Museum of Contemporary Art (MACA), cleaned and subjected to preliminary studies. Both official and unofficial sources consulted by EL PAÍS said the conclusion is that the sculpture is authentic.
The head weighs 14 kilos (30 lb) and is around 22 cm (close to nine inches) high. It represents a woman who is likely Venus, the goddess of love, and was part of a life-size statue, says the head of Alicante’s Cultural Heritage department, José Manuel Pérez Burgos. There are clues in her hairdo, which was “very typical of that era and of the iconography of this goddess,” he notes, citing similar examples in Tarraco (modern-day Tarragona), Hispalis (Seville) or Cartago Nova (Cartagena).
It is also likely that the sculpture was commissioned by a well-to-do individual “who could afford the luxury of importing marble from Greek quarries or from Carrara in Italy.”
The Venus of Alicante was “in good condition” with just a little damage to her nose and chin. “It’s amazing,” says Pérez Burgos. “It’s a miracle.”
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