April 24, 2004
Roman mosaics in Besançon
Once again, Ionarts is on top of a French story that hasn't made it into English: the ongoing excavation in Besançon of a major Gallo-Roman structure of undetermined purpose, richly adorned with mosaics. Here's one more article not linked in the Ionarts writeup, with black & white photo of a large stretch of mosaic floor.
Posted by David on April 24, 2004 3:10 PM
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The style of the Besançon mosaic looks similar to that of the Leicester mosaic, aka Blackfriars pavement, shown here and here:
The Blackfriars tessellated Roman pavement was believed to have been constructed between the years 70 and 85 AD., during the period of rule under the Governor, Julius Agricola. It remained hidden until 1832 when it was uncovered in the basement of a house at 53 Jewry Wall Street. This house was later demolished to make way for the Great Central Railway's Leicester Central station, but a special chamber was built around the mosaic (beneath the station) to protect it and provide public access.
Taboo from an archaeological standpoint, I'm sure, but it would be interesting to walk on them (barefoot, of course).
Roman mosaic design and construction details.
Posted by: Peter Shriner on April 24, 2004 9:06 PM
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