Rock and Roll! - Or How to Lift a Mosaic
#SUBHEADING#Rock and Roll! - Or How to Lift a Mosaic#SUBHEADINGEND# In 1962 staff at Hull Museums were faced with a huge challenge. How to lift three mosaics from the site of a villa near Rudston, East Yorkshire and safely install them in the Archaeology Museum. The mosaics - The Venus Mosaic, The Aquatic Mosaic and The Swastika Mosaic - had been found in 1933 while the field was being ploughed by the owner, Mr. H. Robson. They had been preserved in the ground beneath a specially-built shed but were becoming increasingly damaged by water and frost. If left these wonderful works of art would be lost forever. The team from Hull Museums, led by John Barlett and W.H.Southern, developed a method which clearly worked as it was also used in 1971 to lift the Charioteer Mosaic from the same site in 1971. The 'Tyche' Mosaic from the villa at Brantingham was also lifted using this same method. The method they chose was rolling. This was tried on some plain borders of white tesserae first but worked well and so it was decided to risk it on the larger irreplaceable pavements. #SUBHEADING#Preparation#SUBHEADINGEND# This first step was to carefully clean and dry the mosaic. Then the gaps between the tesserae were deepened. When the mosaic was completely dry it was coated with two or three layers of a thick plastic solution combined with strips of material and a fourth top coat of plastic solution applied to glue it all in place. This stage in the lifting of the Charioteer Mosaic took 200 hours! #SUBHEADING#Rolling a mosaic#SUBHEADINGEND# A cardboard tube strengthened in the middle and both ends by cable drums from the Hull Telephone Department acted as a column around which the mosaic could be rolled. This was a slow process which involved slowly rolling the increasingly heavy drum onto the tube while cutting away the Roman mortar beneath the tesserae. All the while the tesserae were being securely held in place by the coats of material and glue already applied to the top surface. When completely rolled a large mosaic such as the Venus Mosaic weighed about a ton! The drum was then man-handled onto a low-loader lorry (at 10mph!) to Hull. It was obviously a difficult task as a crane was used when they came to lift the Charioteer Mosaic and its drum in the following decade! #SUBHEADING#Roll On: Roll Off#SUBHEADINGEND# Once safely arrived at the museum the mosaic had to be unrolled. This was done by putting a spindle through the cable drums supporting the huge cardboard roll and sliding the pavement as it came off the top down a ramp. The team could then work on the underside of the pavement, removing the remains of the Roman mortar with 'the liberal use of a vacuum cleaner'. A layer of concrete was then applied as a backing, together with a specially prepared steel wire-mesh reinforcement. When it came to backing the Charioteer mosaic in the 1970's the stainless steel grid was strengthened with a fibre-glass and Araldite mixture. The mosaic could then be turned over. The final stage consisted of removing the layers of plastic coating and material. This was carried out with an electric paint remover. Most of the limestone and brick tesserae were tough, but the chalk ones had to be treated very carefully.
Rock and Roll! - Or How to Lift a Mosaic
Rock and Roll! - Or How to Lift a Mosaic. This narrative will show you how mosaics are lifted out of the ground so they can be displayed in museums for all to see.
The Brantingham Geometric Mosaics
The Roman villa at Brantingham, 3km northwest of Brough in East Yorkshire, was first discovered in 1941 when two geometric mosaics were found in a stone quarry known as the 'Cockle Pits'. They were recorded and then reburied. What followed is one of the biggest mysteries in Yorkshire archaeology.
The Brantingham Tyche Mosaic
The so-called 'Tyche Mosaic' was discovered in 1961at the site of a large villa near Brantingham, about 3km northwest of Brough in East Yorkshire.The mosaic features a distinctive figure at the centre wearing a crown and surrounded by a nimbus or halo. Some experts believe this figure is a 'Tyche' (pronounced tie-key), a personification of a province or tribe, and this has given the mosaic its name.
The Leopards Panel
The so-called 'Leopards Panel' was found in 1971 at the 4th century Roman villa at Rudston, East Yorkshire. It formed the floor of a threshold into the room of the Charioteer Mosaic and may have been placed under an archway. Like its neighbour it dates to between about 325 and 350 AD.
The Horkstow Mosaic
The Horkstow Mosaic is one of the largest and most interesting mosaics ever found in Britain. It was uncovered in 1797 by labourers making a kitchen garden at Horkstow Hall in Lincolnshire and would have graced a large hall at a very wealthy and sophisticated 4th century Roman villa.
The Rudston Aquatic Mosaic
The Aquatic Mosaic paved the 'apodytherium' or changing room of the bath-house at the Roman villa near Rudston, East Yorkshire. It was discovered in 1933 together with the Venus Mosaic and the Swastika Mosaic.
The Rudston Charioteer Mosaic
The Charioteer Mosaic is one of the most striking and unusual mosaics to have been found so far in Roman Britain. Named after the central figure standing on a 'quadriga' or four-horse chariot, it paved a large room at a 4th century AD villa near Rudston, East Yorkshire. It is thought to have been laid between about 325 and 350 AD.
The Rudston Swastika Mosaic
This remarkably complete mosaic is known as the Swastika or Geometric Mosaic and was found in 1933 at the Roman villa near Rudston, East Yorkshire. It came from the central room of the same house as the Venus and Aquatic Mosaics which are also displayed at the Hull and East Riding Museum. The mosaic measures 2.75m square and dates to the later 3rd century AD, the same date as the Venus Mosaic.
The Rudston Venus mosaic
The Venus Mosaic came from the largest room in the first house built at a Roman villa near Rudston, East Yorkshire. The intact mosaic with its oblong side-panels would have measured 4.67m x 3.2m. It dates to the later 3rd century AD.
The Story of the Horkstow Mosaic
This famous mosaic was found in 1797 by labourers preparing a kitchen garden at Horkstow Hall, Lincolnshire. Unfortunately they destroyed large areas of it before realising the importance of what they had unearthed - a mosaic floor belonging to great hall of a large and wealthy villa.
The Story of the Rudston Mosaics
The Roman villa near Rudston, East Yorkshire, first came to light in 1838 when walls, roofing tiles, wall plaster and the remains of a mosaic floor were found by farm workers. Unfortunately most of the pavement was destroyed by the same workers - they dug it up in the hope of finding treasure!
Everything you always wanted to know about mosaics
Everything you always wanted to know about mosaics and had no one to ask. Read this narrative to find out more about mosaics, how they were made, what they were made of, how they chose their designs and who made them.
