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Amphorae like the ones found in Odesa can even be traced back to the origins of the modern Olympics. Winners of the festival’s predecessor, the Panathenaic Games, would receive amphorae full of olives.

Romans and Greeks weren’t the only ones to use amphorae, however. Even the Byzantines and Ancient Egyptians utilized ceramic urns like these and often even crafted them with aesthetic beauty in mind. According to Heritage Daily, the two Odesan urns found last week were nearly lost to the current conflict.

While military reserve troops of the Territorial Defense deployed by the Operational Command South were able to retrieve and safeguard the amphorae, archaeologists are currently incapable of studying the site of discovery itself due to the raging warfare nearby. Ultimately, hundreds of other sites have already been lost.

UNESCO recently estimated that at least 133 cultural sites in Ukraine have been damaged since Russia’s invasion began on Feb. 24. Unfortunately, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky fears that number is even higher — and has exceeded 200, according to Artnet. The specific sites in question were invaluable, to say the least.

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