Impressive Mosaic and Large Roman Villa Discovered in UK… But it is Now Re-Buried

Ancient Origins

One of the largest Romans villas ever discovered in Britain and a beautiful mosaic, which was uncovered within in it, were found on a site known as Deverill Villa near Tisbury in Wiltshire, UK. It is one of the most important Roman discoveries in more than a decade.

According to The Telegraph, the villa had 20 to 25 rooms on the ground floor and was built sometime between 175 AD and 220 AD. It was repeatedly re-modeled right up until the mid- 4th century.
Exploration of the site at Deverill Villa revealed the surviving sections of walls measuring 1.5 meters (4.92 feet) in height. A mosaic formed a part of the grand villa, which is believed to have been three-storeys high, with grounds extending over 100 meters (328.08 feet) in width and length. It was accidentally discovered by Luke Irwin, a rug designer. He was installing electric cables in a barn in 2015 when he uncovered a mosaic near the foundations. It appeared to be in remarkably good condition, so Mr. Irwin called the Wiltshire Archaeology Service.

The Roman mosaic Mr. Irwin found in his backyard. (Youtube/Luke Irwin Rugs)

The Roman villa was found under the backyard of Mr. Irwin’s 17th century house after an eight-day archaeological dig sponsored by Historic England and the local Salisbury Museum. Apart from the mosaic and ruined walls, the researchers from Salisbury discovered many precious artifacts, which may provide more information about life in the area during the 3rd century AD.

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Dr. David Roberts, an archaeologist for Historic England, said:

''This site has not been touched since its collapse 1400 years ago and, as such, is of enormous importance. Without question, this is a hugely valuable site in terms of research, with incredible potential. The discovery of such an elaborate and extraordinarily well-preserved villa, undamaged by agriculture for over 1500 years, is unparalleled in recent years. Overall, the excellent preservation, large scale and complexity of this site present a unique opportunity to understand Roman and post-Roman Britain.''

The discovery also contained a perfectly preserved Roman well, underfloor heating pipes, and the stone coffin of a Roman child. The coffin had long been used by the inhabitants of the house as a flower pot. Oyster shells were also unearthed - which were transported over 45 miles (72.42 km) from the coast. This discovery confirms that the villa was a home of an important and wealthy family.

The child’s stone coffin. (News.com.au)

The recently discovered villa is very similar to another one that was found in 1864 at Chedworth, in Gloucestershire. That one was fully excavated, put on display and acquired by the National Trust in 1924. The Chedworth villa was built as a dwelling around the three sides of a country yard. It had a beautiful mosaic floor, and two separate bathing suites. Like the Deverill Villa, it also belonged to a wealthy and important family.

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The researchers from Salisbury believe that it is possible the villa could have been a private property of at least one of the Roman Emperors. As Simon Sebag Montefiore, one of Britain’s leading historians said: "This remarkable Roman villa, with its baths and mosaics uncovered by chance, is a large, important and very exciting discovery that reveals so much about the luxurious lifestyle of a rich Romano British family at the height of the empire.''

Screenshot showting the Roman villa as rendered by a video artist, based on the discoveries made at the site. (Youtube/Luke Irwin Rugs)

Unfortunately, the excavations could not be completed, because the cost of a full excavation and preservation of such a place would be too high. The researchers would like to go back and carry out more grids, but it would cost hundreds of thousands of pounds. The Salisbury Museum decided that until they find more money, the villa and its mosaic had to be re-buried and grassed over to protect them from the elements.
However, even if it became financially possible to complete the dig, Mr. Irwin does not want his garden turned into a museum.
Well preserved Roman villas have been found in many of the former domains of the Roman Empire. In southern Europe, a number of them are now open-air museums. One of the most spectacular is located in Rabaçal, Portugal, 12 kilometers (7.46 miles) away from Conimbriga. The Roman housing complex was excavated in 1984. It was inhabited until around the 6th century AD, and currently it is used as a museum, which protects the remarkable set of mosaics that decorated the villa. The designs have African and Oriental influences, something unique in the art of this period in Portugal. They present seasons, quadriga mosaics, female figures, and vegetable and geometric compositions.
Featured Image: Excavations at the site of the Roman villa. Source: Youtube/Luke Irwin Rugs
By Natalia Klimczak

Ruins of luxurious imperial Roman villa to share its majesty once again

Ancient Origins

The ruins of an imperial Roman luxury villa that had heated floors, lavishly decorated rooms and a dramatic marble staircase leading down to a beach, is ready to share its majesty with the world once more.  The ancient villa has reopened to the public after 15 years. The villa, on an island off Tuscany, Italy, has been under renovation since 1989, but red tape has slowed its reopening.
Villa Domitia is on the 4.83 km (3-mile-long) island of Giannutri in the Tuscan Archipelago. Discovery News describes it as a rocky crescent of an island inhospitable to humans because of a lack of water. In ancient times laborers carried water from the mainland to the luxury villa.
"The villa was built on a harsh, uninhabited site," said Paola Rendini, an archaeological superintendent in Tuscany, to Discovery News. "There is no water spring on the island, and raw materials had to be carried from the mainland. It was a huge task. Giannutri was the first island after Ostia, the port of Rome, thus relatively easy to reach. The villa was likely used by the emperors Domitian, Trajan and Hadrian.” These men ruled Rome between 81 and 117 AD.

Map of Tuscan archipelago with Giannutri at the southernmost end. The island has no spring, so in ancient times rainwater was collected in cisterns. Laborers also carried water from land to the Roman aristocracy who visited the villa on the island. (Norman Einstein map/Wikimedia Commons)

Today the island, the southernmost in the Tuscan Archipelago, is still largely privately owned. It is home to seagulls and a small number of villa owners, who catch rainwater in ancient cisterns and carry water from the mainland. The Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage has the villa and its annexes under its control.
“Today the ruins represent a bright yet fragmented evidence of the once sumptuous villa, showing impressive flights of steps, granite columns, intricately-sculpted capitals, pieces of precious marbles and long stretches of thick walls in opus reticulatum (small squared stones laid diagonally to form a net-like pattern). Spreading for about 10 acres, the villa was built on different terraces on a property which most likely belonged to the prominent Domitii Ahenobarbi, Nero’s family,” Discovery wrote.
“Although the villa has been the focus of several restoration and conservation campaigns since 1989, overlapping regulations have basically prevented its opening to the public, slowing procedures and interventions.”

The residence had bedrooms and a large living room with a view of the sea built on three terraces around a courtyard or peristylium. The columns have Corinthian capitals. (Photo by Paola Agazzi / Rossella Lorenzi)

Rendini said it was a luxury or otium (leisure) villa with many comforts, including cisterns that still collect rainwater for the island's residents, a heating system under the floor, two harbors and a facility for salting fish. The complex included slave quarters.
The villa was rediscovered in 1928 when a flight of marble steps going to the sea (see photo at top) was excavated by woman visiting the island and an archaeologist. They also found rooms with frescoes, mosaics and polychrome marbles. One mosaic showed a marine vista with dolphins and another showed the mythological figures Theseus and Ariadne in the minotaur's labyrinth at Knossos. These artworks have been moved to the archaeological superintendency's storerooms, but Rendini wants to open a museum on the island.
The island may be visited by 75 people per day in three groups of 25 at a cost of 8 euros ($9) per person.
Featured image: The Roman port on the island of Giannutri off the coast of Tuscany, where the ruins of a leisure villa owned by Nero's family is being opened to the public. The villa has been under restoration and conservation since 1989, but red tape has slowed the work and prevented the villa's opening to the public. (Photo by Aldo Ardetti/Wikmedia Commons)