Richard III diggers find Roman-era mosaic

A team of archaeologists from the University of Leicester in central England certainly appear to have the golden touch.

Nearly a decade on from uncovering the remains of King Richard III under a parking lot near Leicester Cathedral, the archaeological team have unearthed a Roman mosaic featuring the great Greek hero of Achilles in battle with brave Hector during the Trojan War — this time in a farmer’s field about 160 kilometres north of London.

The mosaic is the first depiction ever found in the U.K. of events from Homer’s classic ‘The Iliad.’ ”

John Thomas, deputy director of University of Leicester Archaeological Services and project manager on the excavations, said the mosaic says a lot about the person who commissioned it in the late Roman period, between the third and fourth century.

“This is someone with a knowledge of the classics, who had the money to commission a piece of such detail, and it’s the very first depiction of these stories that we’ve ever found in Britain,” he said. “This is certainly the most exciting Roman mosaic discovery in the U.K. in the last century.”

In light of its rarity and importance, Britain’s Department of Culture, Media and Sport on Thursday granted the mosaic scheduled monument status, which makes it a criminal offence for anyone to go digging around the site or even metal-detecting.

The mosaic in the county of Rutland during excavations of an elaborate villa complex.