2,000 year old mosaic discovered in Shropshire

Archaeologists at Wroxeter Roman city have uncovered a 2,000-year-old Roman mosaic and have also uncovered an ancient building and shrine.

A mosaic is a picture that is made from small coloured stones, tiles or glass arranged to make a picture or pattern. Mosaics are usually found as flooring or wall coverings, columns and baths. Greeks were the first to create mosaics around 5.000 years ago.

The mosaic discovered at Wroxeter depicts dolphins and fish in white, red, blue and yellow tiles. Archaeologists believe the mosaic was constructed soon after the city was established and must have been commissioned by a wealthy and important person, someone associated with the legionary fortress or perhaps a founding father of the new city.

Wroxeter excavation is a collaborative effort between English Heritage, the University of Birmingham, Vianova Archaeology & Heritage Services, and Albion Archaeology. Thirty archaeologists spent a month on site, including 20 student archaeologists and volunteers of all ages.

The archaeologists were originally conducting careful excavations to see if they could confirm a possible location for the city's main Civic Temple. What they did find was a number of important discoveries including coins, pottery fragments, the mosaic and a possible shrine.

Wroxeter, or Viriconium as it was known in Roman times, is one of the best preserved examples of a Roman city in Britain, It was established in the 90s AD and was a thriving city of the Roman Empire, once as large as Pompeii.

At its height, the city would have contained more than 200 houses, a civic bath house, marketplace, county hall and judicial centre.

Today, a small number of ruined buildings are all that remain of the lost city above ground, alongside a museum. Much of the site remains unexcavated.

The area of the excavation has now been reburied for its protection and preservation.

The public can visit Wroxeter Roman City's existing ruins, a reconstructed Roman town house and the museum which contains artefacts such as figurines of deities, water pipes, glass perfume bottles, and amulets) to learn more about the site's history.

Photograph: English Heritage