2,000-year-old Roman wall paintings unearthed in London
Archaeologists have unearthed one of the largest collections of painted Roman wall plaster ever found in London and painstakingly pieced the fragments together, they said Thursday.
The plaster, which was discovered on a construction site in 2021, once decorated around 20 internal walls of a high-status early Roman (AD 43-150) building in Southwark, south of the River Thames, the Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) said.
The plaster was found dumped in a large pit, having been smashed into thousands of pieces during Roman demolition works that took place some time before AD 200.
MOLA Senior Building Material Specialist Han Li has spent the last three months laying out the fragments and reconstructing the designs.
"This has been a once in a lifetime moment, so I felt a mix of excitement and nervousness when I started to lay the plaster out," he explained.
"Many of the fragments were very delicate and pieces from different walls had been jumbled together when the building was demolished, so it was like assembling the world's most difficult jigsaw puzzle. a
"The result was seeing wall paintings that even individuals of the late Roman period in London would not have seen," he added.
The reconstruction revealed bright yellow panel designs decorated with images of birds, fruit, flowers, and lyres not seen for 1800 years.
Among the fragments is evidence of a painter's signature, although their name is not among the pieces, as well as unusual graffiti of the ancient Greek alphabet.
Another fragment features the face of a crying woman with a Flavian period (AD 69-96) hairstyle.
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eNCA
8 hours ago
- eNCA
2,000-year-old Roman wall paintings unearthed in London
Archaeologists have unearthed one of the largest collections of painted Roman wall plaster ever found in London and painstakingly pieced the fragments together, they said Thursday. The plaster, which was discovered on a construction site in 2021, once decorated around 20 internal walls of a high-status early Roman (AD 43-150) building in Southwark, south of the River Thames, the Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) said. The plaster was found dumped in a large pit, having been smashed into thousands of pieces during Roman demolition works that took place some time before AD 200. MOLA Senior Building Material Specialist Han Li has spent the last three months laying out the fragments and reconstructing the designs. "This has been a once in a lifetime moment, so I felt a mix of excitement and nervousness when I started to lay the plaster out," he explained. "Many of the fragments were very delicate and pieces from different walls had been jumbled together when the building was demolished, so it was like assembling the world's most difficult jigsaw puzzle. a "The result was seeing wall paintings that even individuals of the late Roman period in London would not have seen," he added. The reconstruction revealed bright yellow panel designs decorated with images of birds, fruit, flowers, and lyres not seen for 1800 years. Among the fragments is evidence of a painter's signature, although their name is not among the pieces, as well as unusual graffiti of the ancient Greek alphabet. Another fragment features the face of a crying woman with a Flavian period (AD 69-96) hairstyle.
Daily Maverick
12-06-2025
- Daily Maverick
Chicken moussaka with yoghurt, garlic & lemon
This recipe takes the traditional Greek lamb or beef moussaka and adapts it to chicken. Rather than a béchamel sauce, it uses Greek yoghurt laced with garlic and lemon. The oregano, garlic, lemon and even a hint of cinnamon (common in Greek cuisine) in this recipe ensure that this alternative take on a moussaka is very Greek in style. In addition to layers of cooked aubergine/brinjals, I also used zucchini (courgettes), which are sometimes included in traditional moussaka. Another frequent inclusion in moussaka is potato, but I decided against that. If you do choose to add it, first steam scallops of potato until almost tender, then cool them before laying them out at the bottom of the oven dish with salt and pepper. If minced chicken meat is not available, buy some breast fillets and ask a butcher to mince it for you. Ingredients 800 g chicken breast meat, minced Olive oil, as needed 1 large onion, finely chopped 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped 2 additional garlic cloves, finely chopped 1 heaped tsp dried oregano 1 Tbsp picked fresh thyme leaves Zest and juice of 1 lemon 1 scant tsp ground cinnamon 500 ml plain Greek yoghurt 2 or 3 aubergines/eggplants, sliced lengthwise 6 medium zucchini, sliced thinly lengthwise Garlic powder 1 x 400 g can chopped tomatoes Salt and white pepper to taste 300 g grated melting cheese such as Cheddar, or Greek Kefalotyri if you can get it 1 Tbsp cornflour dissolved in 3 Tbsp water White pepper Coarse sea salt Method Sprinkle a little garlic powder, salt and black pepper on the sliced aubergines and courgettes/zucchini. Grease a heavy frying pan with olive oil spray and cook the brinjal slices for 3 or 4 minutes on each side on a moderate heat until golden brown, and set aside. Do the same with the zucchini slices. Add olive oil to the pan and cook the chopped onions with the chopped garlic and oregano until softened. Add the minced chicken and cook, while working it with a wooden spoon so that it does not form clumps, until the chicken is cooked through. Add the chopped tomatoes along with the ground cinnamon. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 20 minutes, stirring now and then to prevent sticking. Dissolve 1 Tbsp cornflour in 3 Tbsp water and stir it in, then cook for another three or four minutes. Preheat the oven to 220℃ and grease a deep oven dish. Take the cooked chicken off the heat and let it cool to room temperature. Stir the 2 finely chopped garlic cloves, lemon juice and zest into the yoghurt and season with white pepper and salt. Stir one third of the lemon-garlic yoghurt into the cooled chicken. Spoon half of the chicken mixture into the oven dish. Lay out half of the eggplant and zucchini, then the remainder of the chicken, then the rest of the vegetables. Spoon the remaining yoghurt on top. Sprinkle the cheese over the top. Bake in the preheated oven for about half an hour or until the topping has turned golden and delightful. Leave the moussaka out of the oven on a rack for about 20 minutes for it to firm up, before serving. DM
Daily Maverick
06-06-2025
- Daily Maverick
AirFryday: Fish au gratin, my dad's way
Fish finished in the oven with a gratin of onions and cheese is a splendid thing, and one of my prized memories of the home food of my youth. It occurs to me often, these days, that my dad had a much bigger influence on me and my love for cooking than I had realised when I was younger. As well as his proper pork pies in the Melton Mowbray style, he loved to make his 'fish au gratin' which, in his broad Yorkshire accent, didn't sound remotely French. More like fisher gra'an, the vowels separated by a glottal stop in the London tradition. When I was living in England circa 2004 I trekked north to Yorkshire to see my cousins and stopped, en route, at Melton Mowbray, where I went into its legendary pork pie shop and emerged with a lovely, golden pie which I ate in the street. It was perfect, and it was exactly the same as my dad's, in my memory at least. In his world, fish au gratin was (and, always for me, still is) fish baked in the oven with a topping of golden fried onions and grated cheese, which meld together under the grill while the cheese melts and turns golden and, depending on the variety of cheese, either molten or crisp, or a bit of both. The Langbaken Williston cheese I used for it the other day melted and then crisped into a delicious crust, which was really good, although my dad's was always more molten. Either way, it's a treat. The technique of gratination in an oven (or today in an air fryer, optionally) is also applied to potato bakes such as Pommes Dauphinois, lasagne from Italy, Greek zucchini bakes, and everyone's favourite childhood supper, macaroni cheese. And what is a perfect mound of cauliflower cheese, finished under the grill of an oven or air fryer, if not a gratin… and better still if it has a few light breadcrumbs on top to turn perfection even better. I bought fresh hake while in Gqeberha last weekend and it's almost like a different fish, when used fresh, than a fillet of frozen hake is. Not that I have a problem with frozen hake, especially if you take it directly from the freezer to the air fryer. I cooked these fresh hake fillets in the air fryer, but you can pan-fry it first if you prefer, but not all the way through as it needs to continue cooking under an oven grill or in an air fryer. If you own the latter, it would be wiser to do the whole cook in the air fryer. (Serves 2) Ingredients 1 large onion, thinly sliced 2 Tbsp butter Black pepper and salt for the onions Picked thyme leaves Olive oil cooking spray 2 x 250 g fresh hake fillets, skin on 200 g grated mature Cheddar cheese or similar Salt and white pepper to taste Method Fry the sliced onion in butter, with some picked thyme leaves and seasoned with back pepper and a little salt, slowly until golden and caramelised. Set aside. Grate cheese and set aside. Preheat the air fryer at 200℃ for at least 5 minutes. Spray the basket and both sides of the fish. Season the fish lightly on both sides with salt and white pepper. Place skin-side up in the air fryer and cook it for 6 minutes at 200℃. Turn and spoon the onions on top, then sprinkle grated Cheddar on top, generously. good old chips, would be a perfect match. DM
