Bloody Mary
Luke Irwin, a rug designer from Wiltshire, was digging his backyard to lay an electricity cable in his barn when he uncovered a mosaic under the ground. He took a picture and sent it off to his local council and within 24 hours they were back with archeologists in tow. Experts from Historic England and Salisbury Museum excavated the site and came to find that the mosaic was indeed part of a grand floor of a Roman building. After 8 days of excavation, the team was finally able to uncover the elaborate floor or the extraordinarily preserved villa. One of the largest found in recent years in the country.
The building has been dated to AD 175 to 220 and is believed to be 3 stories high. The teams have also been successful in uncovering various artifacts like cultured oysters, pottery, brooches. Coins as well as the bones of various animals including those of a suckling pig! DR. David Roberts, the archeologist in charge of the dig, has said that the artifacts they have unearthed has given them an even better idea of what life was like back then, for the rich at least.