Sussex Archaeological Collections: Relating to the history and antiquities of the counties of East and West Sussex
Sussex Archaeological Society, 2000. (updated 2022) https://doi.org/10.5284/1000334. How to cite using this DOI
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- ADS Collection: 285
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1000334
- How to cite using this DOI
Early Roman stone tesserae from Southwick villa, West Sussex.
by J. R. L. ALLEN and GILES STANDING
Lavishly planned, perhaps in imitation of Fishbourne palace at Chichester nearby to the west, the early Flavian villa at Southwick stands on the coastal plain of the South Downs and the Channel seaboard. It has experienced a complicated and varied sequence of investigations over the last 200 years, but nothing now remains above ground. Losses, dispersals and disposals have significantly reduced the number of border/corridor and mosaic tesserae recovered over the years. Those that remain are of ceramic, soft and hard chalk and, on scientific examination, in this paper, Kimmeridgian dolomitic cementstone. They were probably used to make bichrome ('black' and white), geometric mosaics in the reception rooms and bath suites of the villa. Except for the lack of red and yellow burnt Kimmeridgian shales, the assemblage of tesserae is similar in character to those employed for early mosaics (1st century-early 2nd century AD) across southern Britain as a whole, from Exeter and Caerleon in the west to Silchester, London, Fishbourne and Eccles in the east. All of the sites benefited from a well-organised mosaic industry that exploited the varied geological resources of the Poole-Purbeck region of Dorset. This piece places Southwick villa within this context for the first time.
