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In recent years, excavations in London have revealed incredible archaeological treasures from the Roman Empire, from remnants of roads to handwritten documents nearly 2,000 years old. Now, a dig in the heart of the British capital has unearthed one of the most extensive collections of painted Roman walls, or frescoes, that's ever been found in the city, as Willem Marx reports.
WILLEM MARX, BYLINE: It was at least 1,800 years ago when colorful fragments from the walls of a high-status Roman building were discarded in a pit during an ancient series of demolitions. Now they've been unearthed at an archaeological site in Southwark, just south of London's River Thames. The person who oversaw their discovery, then the painstaking reconstruction process is Han Li, senior building material specialist at the Museum of London Archaeology Charity.
HAN LI: There was actually two reactions which, you know, will live with me for the rest of my life. I think the first one, when I realized the initial potential, and that was a feeling of excitement because I had thousands upon thousands of fragments to deal with. But then when you realize that there is actually good potential in good reconstruction, the excitement sort of overwhelms the dread, if you want to put it that way.
MARX: With material that filled more than 120 crates, it took months for Li and his team to reorder the pieces of painted plaster into several massive frescoes, to assemble a jigsaw puzzle on a giant scale.
LI: I remember it was sort of a late night at the office, and I had just put in a really quite crucial piece. And then I looked up and, you know, there was this beautiful Roman, large wall with a corner and a door included looking right back at me. And it was a moment of silence, where I looked at it. It was a beautiful moment to really take it in.
MARX: The reborn artworks included motifs of birds, fruit, flowers and musical instruments known as lyres. But they also included writing with a nearly complete ancient Greek alphabet, the only time such an inscription has been found in Britain. Similar frescoes have been unearthed in modern-day France and Germany, but the artistic influences across the northern reaches of Rome's ancient empire remain little understood. Research into each plaster piece will continue, with plans for a future public display.
For NPR News, I'm Willem Marx in London.
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