The largest Roman mosaic found in London in half a century has been dug up in Borough, in the dining room of a building thought to be a former hotel.
The mosaic, made up of two panels with small, coloured tiles set within a red tessellated floor, was dug up by Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) workers at the site on Southwark Street.
The mosaic was set in a large room, which archaeologists think was the dining room, or triclinium. It would have contained dining couches, where people would lie back to eat, and could look down at the floor to enjoy the mosaic at the same time. The walls of this room were brightly painted, and fragments of colourful wall plaster have been found on the site.
The larger mosaic panel was made from the late second to early third century AD, but the room was clearly in use for a longer period of time. Traces of an earlier mosaic underneath the one currently visible have been identified.
MOLA Site Supervisor, Antonietta Lerz, said: “This is a once-in-a-lifetime find in London. It has been a privilege to work on such a large site where the Roman archaeology is largely undisturbed by later activity – when the first flashes of colour started to emerge through the soil everyone on site was very excited!”
The mosaic was in a four-room building, fully uncovered as part of construction works for a new mixed-use block on the Southwark Street site. The hotel is thought to date from AD72, about 25 years after the Romans founded the city of Londinium, where the City of London is now.
Staff think the hotel could have been for upper-class Romans. A phallic-shaped pendant found at the site could also suggest that high-ranking members of the Roman military were staying there, as this symbol is often associated with the army.
It could also have been a private home of a wealthy person or family. The building, which stood for about 150 years, could also have had several uses over its lifespan. The northern part of the building was first uncovered in the 1980s.
The find was made as part of the preparation work for a new residential, office and retail building on the site, which is currently empty. Planning permission was given in 2020 and building work is set to finish in 2024.