SDO21381 - Archaeological Excavation of the Roman 'Villa' at Hinton St Mary, 2022. Interim Report

‘The unique Hinton St Mary mosaic, on display in The British Museum since 1965, consists of an 8m by 5m high-status tessellated floor for a large bipartite rectangular room, of which the main part includes a central roundel showing a man wearing a tunic and cloak in from of the Christogram (Chii-Rho). Scholars have suggested the figure is one of the earliest representations fo Jesus Christ from the ancient world, and probably the first to be found on a mosaic. It is one of the icons of Roman Britain and has an important story to tell about the earliest Christian communities in the British Isles. Previous excavations in the 1960s and later geophysical surveys suggested the mosaic belonged to much larger complex of buildings described as a Romano-British ‘courtyard villa’, perhaps home to a wealthy Christian family. This archaeological excavation is part of a wider collaborative project, the goal of which is the long-term loan of the mosaic by The British Museum for re-display in Dorset. The excavation is a research, education and conservation project, designed to generate new evidence with which the historical and religious significance of the mosaic can be better explained to the public. It followed the successful completion of an archaeological evaluation in 2021 that highlighted how little is actually known about the mosaic, or Hinton St Mary in the Roman period. Three trenches were excavated in June and July 2022 at Hinton St Mary and all of the project’s aims and objectives were successfully achieved. The excavation revealed that: • the room with the Chi-Rho mosaic was probably not connected to other rooms, or buildings, on its SW and SE sides; • the SE corner of the room with the Chi-Rho mosaic was connected to a boundary wall, which separated two cobbled surfaces; • a long rectangular building was located some 8 m to the SW of the mosaic room. It was c. 34 m long, with a portico or corridor facing out onto a cobbled area. A mosaic covered the northern end room’s floor, while the next room was provided with a hard mortar floor; • there was no occupation at the site before c. 300 and the evidence suggests the Roman buildings were constructed and occupied from c. 330-340. • occupation seems to have continued until at least the end of the fourth century.’