Has there been an excavation of where the Colossus of Rhodes stood? Is there any copper found on site that could be attributed to the Colossus of Rhodes?

Answer 1

There have been many excavations of potential Colossus locations on Rhodes, but unfortunately we don't know exactly where the statue stood. Although it's popularly depicted as straddling the harbor, there's no historical or archaeological evidence of that. Since we don't know where the statue was, to my knowledge there has not been any copper found on Rhodes, or elsewhere, that we can positively identify as being from the Colossus. There are some historical sources that say the copper from the statue was sold several hundred years after it collapsed, and this seems a very likely explanation for what happened to the statue, as copper was and still is an extremely valuable and recyclable commodity.

If it's any consolation, the copper for the Colossus most likely came from Cyprus, which was the main source of copper in the ancient Mediterranean world.