# Amateurs discover Most Exciting Roman Mosaic in Britain **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 12, 2017, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateurs-discover-most-exciting-roman-mosaic-in-britain/796174 "2017-09-12T15:56:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateurs-discover-most-exciting-roman-mosaic-in-britain/796174/1 "2017-09-12T15:56:49Z")
> [@](#): > > Amateur Archaeologists Find ‘Most Exciting’ Roman Mosaic in Britain > The mosaic tells the story of Bellerophon, a mythical hero who defeats the fearsome Chimera. > [http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/amateur-archaeologists-find-most-exciting-roman-mosaic-britain-180964828/](http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/amateur-archaeologists-find-most-exciting-roman-mosaic-britain-180964828/) Amateur Archaeologists in England discover a 6 meter mosaic, the Most exciting in Britain, and what do the experts do? > [@](#): > > Now that the community project has come to an end, the site has been backfilled. Can the archeologists on the board explain this action? ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateurs-discover-most-exciting-roman-mosaic-in-britain/796174/2 "2017-09-12T16:04:30Z")
IANAA but I’ve read of this being done elsewhere. It’s to protect the mosaic. To remove the mosaic and preserve it would mean finding a building and all the ancilliaries and considerable expense. It’s much more cost-effective to just re-cover the thing while they figure out the next steps. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateurs-discover-most-exciting-roman-mosaic-in-britain/796174/3 "2017-09-12T16:18:40Z")
How do they judge “most exciting?” Does this mean that previously discovered British Roman mosaics are Dull? Or at least Duller than this one? Maybe they could rate excitingness on a scale, say in Spielbergs or something. I will grant that Bellerophon Fighting a Chimera is arguably pretty exciting. Bellerophon doesn’t get as much press as he deserves. They adapted the story from _Wrath of the Titans_, substituting Perseus for Bellerophon\*. It’s the only time I can recall the story making it to the Big Screen. [https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=youtube+wrath+of+the+titans+chimera&qpvt=youtube+wrath+of+the+titans+chimera&view=detail&mid=2ECAF2A38F1256F1F1652ECAF2A38F1256F1F165&FORM=VRDGAR](https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=youtube+wrath+of+the+titans+chimera&qpvt=youtube+wrath+of+the+titans+chimera&view=detail&mid=2ECAF2A38F1256F1F1652ECAF2A38F1256F1F165&FORM=VRDGAR) \*I don’t have a problem with this. I argue in my book that the Bellerophon vs. Chimera story is a local variant of the Perseus vs. Cetus story, and both are represented by the same constellations. ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateurs-discover-most-exciting-roman-mosaic-in-britain/796174/4 "2017-09-12T16:21:18Z")
Amateurs are the wrong people to discover anything. Of use for digging and for cataloguing pot shards, but only highly trained professionals can touch a discovered item or breathe near it otherwise dreadful things will happen and everything will be spoilt forever by clumsy uncomprehending brutish amateurs who did not go to college and spend years in the disciplines needed. Thus it has been since 400 BC when the first archaeological degree was issued by Mud University and greedy looting amateurs were just digging up stuff they found because they liked it. They should always have just left the things in the ground forever to preserve the historical record. _worked in an archaeological office_ ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateurs-discover-most-exciting-roman-mosaic-in-britain/796174/5 "2017-09-12T16:25:59Z")
Geez, the Smithsonian’s advertisements have touched the bottom of the barrel… ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateurs-discover-most-exciting-roman-mosaic-in-britain/796174/6 "2017-09-12T17:49:50Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > How do they judge “most exciting?” Does this mean that previously discovered British Roman mosaics are Dull? Or at least Duller than this one? > Maybe they could rate excitingness on a scale, say in Spielbergs or something. > I will grant that Bellerophon Fighting a Chimera is arguably pretty exciting. Bellerophon doesn’t get as much press as he deserves. They adapted the story from _Wrath of the Titans_, substituting Perseus for Bellerophon\*. It’s the only time I can recall the story making it to the Big Screen. > > [youtube wrath of the titans chimera - Search Videos](https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=youtube+wrath+of+the+titans+chimera&qpvt=youtube+wrath+of+the+titans+chimera&view=detail&mid=2ECAF2A38F1256F1F1652ECAF2A38F1256F1F165&FORM=VRDGAR) > > \*I don’t have a problem with this. I argue in my book that the Bellerophon vs. Chimera story is a local variant of the Perseus vs. Cetus story, and both are represented by the same constellations. If you read it as “I had a ‘most exciting’ afternoon at Stamford Bridge”; it will make more sense to you. ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateurs-discover-most-exciting-roman-mosaic-in-britain/796174/7 "2017-09-12T17:55:37Z")
Harold Godwinson wasn’t complaining. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateurs-discover-most-exciting-roman-mosaic-in-britain/796174/8 "2017-09-12T18:16:44Z")
I suspect the “most exciting” referred to the size and completeness of the mosaic and the quality of the art. If I’m reading the article correctly, the amateur archaeologists were under the supervision of professionals at all times. The project plans to come back and excavate the rest of the mosaic, as well as other parts of the site, so expect more pictures in the future. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateurs-discover-most-exciting-roman-mosaic-in-britain/796174/9 "2017-09-12T21:19:04Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > How do they judge “most exciting?” Does this mean that previously discovered British Roman mosaics are Dull? Or at least Duller than this one? Think of the sense “a most exciting” rather than “_the_ most exciting.” ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateurs-discover-most-exciting-roman-mosaic-in-britain/796174/10 "2017-09-13T03:12:49Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > How do they judge “most exciting?” The quote from the Guardian in context: > [@](#): > > Anthony Beeson, an expert on classical art and a member of the Association for the Study and Preservation of Roman Mosaics, described it as “without question the most exciting mosaic discovery made in Britain in the last fifty years”. > > Luigi Thompson, an artist known for his meticulous paintings of mosaics, called the find, which dates from about AD380, “the most delightful, lively and charming pavement I have ever seen”. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateurs-discover-most-exciting-roman-mosaic-in-britain/796174/11 "2017-09-13T03:25:27Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > The quote from the Guardian in context: Oh, well then, I stand corrected. 😳 ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateurs-discover-most-exciting-roman-mosaic-in-britain/796174/12 "2017-09-13T08:19:38Z")
> [@Evan\_Drake](#): > > Amateurs are the wrong people to discover anything. Of use for digging and for cataloguing pot shards, but only highly trained professionals can touch a discovered item or breathe near it otherwise dreadful things will happen and everything will be spoilt forever by clumsy uncomprehending brutish amateurs who did not go to college and spend years in the disciplines needed. Thus it has been since 400 BC when the first archaeological degree was issued by Mud University and greedy looting amateurs were just digging up stuff they found because they liked it. They should always have just left the things in the ground forever to preserve the historical record. > _worked in an archaeological office_ Realistically, everything we’ve ever done archaeologically is basically a sin. By the standards of 2200, clearly the right answer will be advanced radar and other such technologies, to non-invasively find and catalogue every single thing underground, in a book, in a painting, etc. Every decade or two, someone can come along with a similar device with higher pixel density and rescan everything for better resolution. All of the structures and texts will be discovered via 3D simulation of the environments scanned. ---
**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2017, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateurs-discover-most-exciting-roman-mosaic-in-britain/796174/13 "2017-09-14T09:42:39Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Realistically, everything we’ve ever done archaeologically is basically a sin. By the standards of 2200, clearly the right answer will be advanced radar and other such technologies, to non-invasively find and catalogue every single thing underground, in a book, in a painting, etc. Every decade or two, someone can come along with a similar device with higher pixel density and rescan everything for better resolution. > > All of the structures and texts will be discovered via 3D simulation of the environments scanned. And they’ll still be explaining any unknown object by saying it had religious significance. ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2017, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateurs-discover-most-exciting-roman-mosaic-in-britain/796174/14 "2017-09-14T10:20:03Z")
> [@The Guardian](#): > > Anthony Beeson, an expert on classical art and a member of the Association for the Study and Preservation of Roman Mosaics, described it as “without question the most exciting mosaic discovery made in Britain in the last fifty years”. The figure of ‘the last fifty years’ was presumably not just plucked at random. I suspect that what he actually means is that this is the most exciting mosaic discovery made in Britain since that at [Hinton St Mary](http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=808670&partId=1) 54 years ago.