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Show Keeping Up ience v tV? 0 By Sciences er vce Science Service. WNU Service. Find Ivory Apollo - "" in 300 Fragments Down Athens Well Statue Believed Work of Great Praxiteles PRINCETON, N. J. An ivory statuette of Apollo by a very great Athenian sculptor, possibly Praxiteles himself, is an outstanding discovery of this year's archeological digging dig-ging by Americans at Athens, just announced. The statuette, which was found in 300 pieces in the depths of a well In Athens, has been successfully put' together again, says Dr. T. Leslie Shear, field director of the American School of Classical Studies Stud-ies at Athens, who has just returned re-turned to the United States. When several experts failed at the delicate task of restoring the jig-saw problem piece, Mrs. Shear, wife of the director, tried, and with help from the school staff she completed com-pleted it in two weeks. The ivory was fitted over a mass of beeswax for foundation. Figure Almost Complete. Lacking only a finger, a toe, and a few tiny sections of the body, young Apollo is shown standing with left hand extended to grasp a bow, and his right hand resting above his head. The figure was made originally from a single piece of ivory, except for the left hand. The statuette was found during excavation of 27 wells located when the expedition scraped the rocky hill on which the famous Theseum, or Temple of Hephaestus, stood. This most perfectly preserved of all Greek temples is near the Agora, or market place, where the expedition has been making important impor-tant discoveries since 1931. On the side of this Theseum hill looking toward the Agora, the digging dig-ging revealed ancient landscape gardening plans. Two rows of holes were found paralleling the temple's columns. The holes once contained flower pots, judging by their shape, and the pots were quite modern in style. Dr. Shear plans to beautify the ancient Athenian market place when the long task of exploring its buried contents is nearer completion. comple-tion. It will be, he says, made into "a real garden spot." |