Workers found a 2,000-year-old marble head during beach works at La Almadraba. The City Council hailed it as one of the most important local discoveries, yet questions arose over handling and the precise date.
Workers operating an excavator during regeneration works at La Almadraba beach found the piece in May. Alicante City Council announced the discovery on 20 May and dated it to the first or second century AD.
The sculpture measures 22.22 centimetres in height and 19.78 centimetres in width. Municipal experts attributed it to a representation of Venus from a domus in ancient Lucentum.
A published image showed the head inside a Mercadona raffia bag, prompting criticism. Compromís called for an investigation into the protocols followed and the full chronology of events.
Councillor Nayma Beldjilali described the find as one of the most important in Alicante. The City Council dismissed the criticism as sterile controversy.