The mystery over the Riace Bronzes, two magnificent ancient Greek statues, remains almost half a century after the day they were recovered off the coast of the Italian region of Calabria in August of 1972. To this day, archaeologists and other scientists have been unable to identify with certainty who the bronze statues depict, when they were created—and how on earth they ended up in Calabria.

Discovered by Stefano Mariottini in the town of Riace, the two statues were transported to the National Museum of Reggio Calabria, where they underwent an initial restoration that eliminated the layers of concretized sand coating them.