Richard III archaeologists strike again with Roman mosaic

By PAN PYLAS
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — 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 car park near Leicester Cathedral, the university’s archaeological team have unearthed a Roman mosaic featuring the great Greek hero of Achilles in battle with Hector during the Trojan War — this time in a farmer’s field. The mosaic is unique to the U.K. in that it depicts events from Homer’s ‘The Iliad’ that were already very ancient at the time. On Thursday Britain’s Department of Culture, Media and Sport on Thursday granted the mosaic the country’s oldest form of heritage protection.