Roman mosaic floor of Somerset villa painstakingly recreated using 140,000 cubes

Each of the cubes was hand-made from stone and tiles Credit: South West Heritage Trust

The mosaic floor of a Roman villa has been painstakingly recreated in Somerset using 140,000 cubes of stone and tile.

It's thought the floor in the Roman dining room reconstruction at Avalon Archaeology is the only one in the UK made entirely by untrained volunteers.

Roughly 25 of them have been involved in making the mosaic over the last five years, working one day a week, with between two and five people involved each day.

They spent the first two years hand-making the 140,000 stone and tile cubes (tesserae) using the same tools as the Romans.

Over the following three years they recreated a series of mosaic designs copying ones from villas excavated in Somerset - like Whatley, Hurcot, Newton St Loe and Lopen, among others.

The volunteers spent two years hand-making the 140,000 stone and tile cubes (tesserae) Credit: South West Heritage Trust

How the cubes were made

The stone used for the mosaic cubes is the same local material that the Romans used, with white, blue and grey lias, yellow Doulting stone, and red made from tiles.

The individual cubes were created using a hammer and a ‘hardie’ - which is similar to a chisel set upright in a block of wood - and were laid in a bed of lime mortar.

The inspiration for the design

Different parts of the design were inspired by mosaics on real villas and came together to create a "best of Roman Somerset" medley.

The original designs came from Whatley Roman villa, Hurcot villa, Newton St Loe villa, Lopen villa among others.

Around 25 volunteers worked on the mosaics Credit: South West Heritage Trust

The elephant

The elephant mosaic from Whatley Roman villa has been recreated on a smaller scale than the original. The villa near Nunney was discovered in 1837 and excavated 1848 and 1958.

According to experts at Avalon Archaeology, Roman mosaic elephants in continental Europe usually appear more realistic and have the correct size of ears.

However, historically British mosaicists seem to have been more conservative in their ear depictions - perhaps because they had never seen an elephant and so couldn’t imagine an animal having such big ears in relation to its head.

The recreated elephant mosaic from Whatley Roman villa Credit: South West Heritage Trust

Roman trompe l’oeil

The Romans often included optical illusions in their frescoes and mosaics. One example is a design from the Newton St Loe villa.

Some people see a flower, or star, or four converging cubes, or four converging Toblerone shapes.

The trompe l'oeil design from Newton St Loe villa Credit: South West Heritage Trust

The dolphin

The dolphin design was inspired by Lopen villa in the south of Somerset, which was discovered by chance in 2001.

The dolphin design was initially sketched out in the wet lime mortar, before its gradual formation using tesserae, after which a thinner mortar wash was applied to fill in the cracks then then washed off. The viewer can decide whether the surrounding waves are black or white.

The dolphin is a smaller version of a mosaic at Lopen villa Credit: South West Heritage Trust

Viewing the Completed Mosaic

You can view the mosaic at Avalon Archaeology, open every Sunday - more information here.