Archaeologists Stumble Upon a 2,000-Year-Old Dolphin Mosaic in England | Smithsonian

Cool Finds

The Roman-era artwork was likely preserved thanks to a remodeling project in the third or fourth century C.E.

Margherita Bassi

Daily Correspondent

Archaeologists in northwestern England were looking for an ancient temple when they stumbled upon something unexpected: a magnificent mosaic made from white, red, blue and yellow tiles.

The colorful artwork, which depicts dolphins and fish, was unearthed in the Roman city of Viroconium Cornoviorum, located in what is now the village of Wroxeter. Researchers think it dates to the second century C.E.

“We never suspected we would find a beautiful and intact mosaic, which had lain hidden for thousands of years,” says Win Scutt, senior properties curator at English Heritage, in a statement. “This discovery, alongside a large number of small finds such as coins, will go a long way in helping us to date the various phases of the city and indicate the kinds of activities that were taking place.”

Viroconium Cornoviorum was originally a Roman legionary fortress that turned into a city toward the end of the first century C.E. Hosting a population of about 15,000 and stretching across nearly 200 acres, it would become the fourth-largest city of Roman Britain—almost as big as Pompeii at its peak.

The recent excavation, which focused on an unexplored area of the city, was a collaboration between English Heritage, the University of Birmingham, Vianova Archaeology and Heritage Services and Albion Archaeology.

After several days of digging, “I was beginning to think we wouldn’t find anything of interest,” Peter Guest, an archaeologist with Vianova Archaeology and co-director of the excavation, tells Kaleena Fraga of All That’s Interesting. He was pleasantly surprised when two students uncovered a small section of the mosaic.

“It was immediately clear that it was in excellent condition and that it was decorated—we could already see the tail of one of the dolphins!” Guest adds. “We uncovered the full extent of the mosaic in the trench over the next couple of days, and it was fantastic to watch it being exposed and cleaned.”

The mosaic was found in the room of a large townhouse that probably belonged to a wealthy family “determined to impress people with this fine mosaic,” Scutt tells CNN’s Issy Ronald. He adds that the room, whose mosaic included pieces imported from outside the region, was likely used for “entertaining wealthy guests.”

The artwork, which resembles an “aquarium frozen in stone,” is the first mosaic found in Wroxeter in more than 150 years, per the statement. The archaeologists think it was preserved thanks to a remodeling project that took place in the following centuries, which filled the mosaic room with debris in order to raise the floor level.

While the archaeologists never found a temple, they did make other exciting discoveries at the site. The team uncovered a small square-shaped structure, which likely served as a shrine or mausoleum for a high-ranking individual, and a large public building, which would have once sat on a main street across from the marketplace and city hall.

“It’s a bit early to say the exact dating, but it was clearly a massive building that must have dominated the center of the city for hundreds of years,” Scutt tells CNN.

The discovery of the large public building and “the extraordinary survival of a multicolored mosaic” provide “startling evidence for the wealth and confidence of the founders of the city,” says Roger White, an archaeologist at the University of Birmingham and co-director of the excavation, in the statement.

According to English Heritage, researchers have reburied the excavation area in order to protect it from the elements.

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Margherita Bassi | READ MORE

Margherita Bassi is a freelance journalist and trilingual storyteller. Her work has appeared in publications including BBC Travel, Discover magazine, Live Science, Atlas Obscura and Hidden Compass.