According to a statement released by Ruhr University, an excavation led by Jon Albers of Ruhr University in Sicily’s Selinunte Archaeological Park uncovered an unfinished carving of a lion’s head on a street near the ancient city’s harbor and workshop district.

Albers said that the marble for the 23-inch-tall carving, known as a sima, is thought to have been imported from the Greek island of Paros. The water outlet had not yet been added to the sculpture, and the lion’s mane had not been completed.

The sima would have eventually been placed at the end of a roof as part of a system designed to drain rainwater. “We cannot yet say whether it was intended for the well-known Temple E in Selinunte or for another, as yet unknown temple,” Albers explained.

source archaeology.org

image credit Ruhr University 

© Selinuntprojekt Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Marc Klauß/Leah Schiebel