Dutifully taking our recycling to the rubbish bins next to the graveyard in Afrata the other day, we noticed what seemed to be a piece of marble, possibly a remnant from a demolished building, lying beside them. We gave it no further thought, but as a report in Haniotika Nea this week makes clear, others were more observant:

Citizen saved antique item from the rubbish
An Ottoman grave marker which was found thrown among rubbish bins was handed in to the authorities by a citizen of Chania. Mr Giorgos Tsabas found the object a few days ago thrown between two rubbish bins at Afrata in the Municipality of Platanias, next to the graveyard. Recognising the archaeological find from its shape and the carving on it, he picked it up, informed the staff of the archaeological service and handed it in on Tuesday morning.

As he told Haniotika Nea, “the indifference of each of us towards such an object, throwing it away or being afraid to inform the authorities, results in the loss of part of our past, because the Ottoman occupation, whatever negative experiences it may have brought, was a part of our history.”
(Haniotika Nea, 02/07/23)