MOSAIC CONSERVATION AND EXCAVATION
MARCO SIMONE VILLA
CAESARIUM (pictured)
Centro di Conservazione Archaeologica, Rome, Italy
Summer 2017
The Marco Simone villa is called that because it once belonged to a close friend of Caesar, who was named Marco Simone. The part of the villa being excavated in the summer of 2017 were two rooms of the bathhouse. Three trees had grown deep roots into the first room, part of which ended up disrupting the edges of the conserved mosaic. The first room had what appeared to be an ovular marble plunge pool against an apse-shaped wall bordered by an aggregate of marble and concrete. The majority of this floor was opus sectile, a marble aggregate. Directly across from that wall was a narrow doorway into the mosaic floored room. The lintels of the doors were marble slabs, two of which survived. The remaining walls were stone. The first room was excavated using trowels and pickaxes to remove the dirt and gravel from the area. After about a meter and a half, the original plunge pool flooring was exposed. Several drastic cracks were evident from the tree roots, and some artifacts were found in this area.
The second room, adjacent to the first, was floored with a polychromatic mosaic with dogtooth tesserae. This made them more difficult to dislodge than a cubical tesserae. The mosaic was solid white on the interior with a double black border. As we excavated, we realized that an ant infestation had affected the mosaic’s condition. The mosaic was about three by five meters in area, but the five meter long side parallel to the remaining wall and the first room was slowly crumbling down a grassy slope due to erosion.
To conserve the mosaic, we began by scraping away a thick calcium deposit which had become encrusted on top of the mosaic. In some areas, the deposit was quite thin and a scalpel could remove it easily. It other areas it was up to five centimeters thick, requiring a hammer and chisel to remove. After systematically removing the deposit, we used dental scraping tools to clean the mortar in between the tesserae. Then, we used a sieve and vacuum to remove the calcium deposit and mortar bits that had been scraped off. The mosaic went from a stained brown to a glossy white in fifteen centimeter increments. Any missing holes were filled in using lime mortar rather than concrete, which expands when exposed to water and causes breakage in the mosaic.
By the time the team had reached the center of the mosaic, we realized that there was a large hole in the far right center of the room (on the same side as the first room’s wall border). The tesserae around the hole had remained upright, with few falling in. It was a fairly symmetrical hole, covered by Roman roofing tiles and dirt. Through the process of lifting and dusting the dirt away, we discovered that the area under the tiles may have been hollow, leading us to believe that either it was some sort of storage chamber or that it was a hole created by some systematic collapse of the ceiling. The last two notable finds on the mosaic were, first, six rectangular indentations, which had been filled with mortar. They formed a half rectangle shape adjacent to the door leading into the first room. When cleared with scalpels and the vacuum and sieve combination, some of the indentations were found to reach all the way to the rock bed layer of the mortar. The second find was my own—the heel of a shoe, held together by iron nail fragments. This was found along the wall between the two rooms, partly under a stone of the wall and obscured by dirt.
The mosaic was treated in situ, showing the success of pioneered methods in mosaic conservation. This also ensured that it could be restored and put back together with integrity. Lastly, the Marco Simone villa was conserved with a public audience in mind. Plans had begun for exhibition and housing, and the mosaic had already begun to be visited by community members. Its interpretation and historical significance was being addressed throughout the process.
The second room, adjacent to the first, was floored with a polychromatic mosaic with dogtooth tesserae. This made them more difficult to dislodge than a cubical tesserae. The mosaic was solid white on the interior with a double black border. As we excavated, we realized that an ant infestation had affected the mosaic’s condition. The mosaic was about three by five meters in area, but the five meter long side parallel to the remaining wall and the first room was slowly crumbling down a grassy slope due to erosion.
To conserve the mosaic, we began by scraping away a thick calcium deposit which had become encrusted on top of the mosaic. In some areas, the deposit was quite thin and a scalpel could remove it easily. It other areas it was up to five centimeters thick, requiring a hammer and chisel to remove. After systematically removing the deposit, we used dental scraping tools to clean the mortar in between the tesserae. Then, we used a sieve and vacuum to remove the calcium deposit and mortar bits that had been scraped off. The mosaic went from a stained brown to a glossy white in fifteen centimeter increments. Any missing holes were filled in using lime mortar rather than concrete, which expands when exposed to water and causes breakage in the mosaic.
By the time the team had reached the center of the mosaic, we realized that there was a large hole in the far right center of the room (on the same side as the first room’s wall border). The tesserae around the hole had remained upright, with few falling in. It was a fairly symmetrical hole, covered by Roman roofing tiles and dirt. Through the process of lifting and dusting the dirt away, we discovered that the area under the tiles may have been hollow, leading us to believe that either it was some sort of storage chamber or that it was a hole created by some systematic collapse of the ceiling. The last two notable finds on the mosaic were, first, six rectangular indentations, which had been filled with mortar. They formed a half rectangle shape adjacent to the door leading into the first room. When cleared with scalpels and the vacuum and sieve combination, some of the indentations were found to reach all the way to the rock bed layer of the mortar. The second find was my own—the heel of a shoe, held together by iron nail fragments. This was found along the wall between the two rooms, partly under a stone of the wall and obscured by dirt.
The mosaic was treated in situ, showing the success of pioneered methods in mosaic conservation. This also ensured that it could be restored and put back together with integrity. Lastly, the Marco Simone villa was conserved with a public audience in mind. Plans had begun for exhibition and housing, and the mosaic had already begun to be visited by community members. Its interpretation and historical significance was being addressed throughout the process.
