A university in England has called “extraordinary” the discovery of a large Roman mosaic and villa in a field at a farm in Rutland.
The find was made by Jim Irvine, the son of the landowner.
Speaking in a video released by the University of Leicester, he says he first noticed some pottery fragments on the ground in a field last year. He contacted a local museum, he says, after observing a crop mark on satellite imagery.
According to John Thomas, director of the University of Leicester’s Archaeological Services department, the mosaic, set in a villa, is “unique” in Britain. It depicts Achilles’ battle with Hector at the end of the Trojan War across several panels, “almost in comic book style,” he said.
