The British Museum in London has artefacts and inscriptions acquired 160 years ago from the Temple of Apollo on Kalymnos.

Some have been on display - they include inscriptions and the slightly incomplete head of a kouros from about 560 BC. But others are just fragments and considered more useful to scholars than suitable for display.

These marbles were excavated in Kalymnos and transported to the British Museum by Sir Charles Newton. He was a renowned Victorian archaeologist who visited the island as part of a British government-sponsored tour of study and acquisition in 1854. Subsequently he became the first head of the museum's Greek and Roman department.

On Kalymnos, Newton excavated at the site of the Temple of Apollo, using locally hired labour. Had he remained longer at the temple site and extended his excavation by just a few metres, he may have discovered the kouros and companion statues.

Staff of the British Museum's Greek and Roman department are excited by the rarity of the Kalymnos find. They think it likely that the statues were buried deliberately when the temple was turned into a Byzantine Christian basilica.

They have welcomed the opportunity to know more about the pieces held in London and are working with Greek archaeologists responsible for studying and restoring the Kalymnos statues.

The British Museum plans to publish academic reports on its Kalymnos artefacts in conjunction with the Greek Ministry of Culture reports.

Among the London artefacts are body parts of statues, but it is not yet known whether any might fit with the figures now in the Kalymnos Museum.

More about Charles Newton