After the Roman emperor Claudius succesfuly invaded of Britain in 43 C.E., he directed his army to build a fortress at Camulodunum. They hope to wrap up the project and display the mosaic by the end of this summer.īefore becoming Colchester, the city was named “Camulodunum,” in honor of the god of war. So far, archaeologists believe they’ve unearthed about a fifth of the total mosaic size, including some sections that were not originally revealed in the late 1980s. “We are confident that we are in a good position to understand the science and infrastructure changes required to unveil this masterpiece in all its glory this summer,” he tells the publication. Martin Leatherdale, the shopping center’s manager, described the interest from passersby as “phenomenal” to the Colchester Gazette’s Daniel Rees. jNUON7NL2N- Lion Walk March 21, 2023Īs crews carefully excavated the mosaic, located in front of a vape shop, a stream of curious shoppers stopped to watch them work. We are working with and colch_archaeological_trust to excavate and preserve this artwork. If a royal visit wasn't enough, we've discovered a piece of history that's been buried beneath our city for almost 2,000 years! “Colchester is not well enough known for its Roman heritage as it ought to be,” says Philip Crummy, the trust’s director, to Artnet. As such, Roman artifacts tend to pop up from time to time, including more than 40 known mosaics recorded by the Colchester Archaeological Trust, reports Artnet ’s Jo Lawson-Tancred. It’s also the oldest recorded town in Britain.

Officials with the Lion Walk Shopping Centre and the Colchester Borough Council have launched a project to uncover the piece and protect it with a piece of glass.Ĭolchester, which is situated roughly 60 miles northeast of London, was the first Roman capital of England. Now, the intricately patterned mosaic is finally getting its moment in the sun, reports Hyperallergic’s Sarah Rose Sharp. Over the next three-and-a-half decades, shoppers had no idea they were walking on top of a nearly 2,000-year-old piece of artwork. But because there wasn’t enough funding to study the artifact, they simply jotted down the mosaic’s location and carefully covered it back up. Most of the VS30 data are for sites in the western contiguous United States (2,141 sites), whereas 786 Vs30 values are for sites in the Central and Eastern United States 70 values are for sites in other parts of the United States, including Alaska (15 sites), Hawaii (30 sites), and Puerto Rico (25 sites).In 1988, crews building a shopping mall in southeast England discovered an ancient Roman mosaic. Whenever possible, Vs30 originating from these earlier compilations were crosschecked against published reports.īoth downhole and surface-based Vs30 estimates are represented. A small subset (less than 20 percent) of Vs30 values was previously compiled by the USGS and other research institutions. Most of the data originated from publications directly reporting the work of field investigators.

Thus far, there are 2,997 sites in the United States, along with metadata for each measurement from government-sponsored reports, Web sites, and scientific and engineering journals. Geological Survey (USGS) and other governmental agencies.

Compiled Vs30 measurements obtained by studies funded by the U.S.

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