Hidden for Centuries: Astonishing Roman Dolphin Mosaic Discovered Beneath Austrian Soil Reveals Ancient Secrets
The ‘Spectacular Discovery’ Of The Dolphin Mosaic
OÖ Landes-Kultur GmbH/FacebookExcavations of the villa on Reinberg Hill in Thalheim bei Wels have revealed a number of stunning floor mosaics.
According to a press release from the University of Salzburg, the dolphin mosaic was found during excavations of an immense Roman villa complex on Reinberg Hill in Thalheim bei Wels, once the site of the Roman city Ovilava.
The excavation project, led by archaeologists from the University of Salzburg and the Upper Austrian State Cultural Heritage Association, began in 2023 and has uncovered three mosaics so far. After finding the first one in 2024, archaeologists unearthed two more this year. One depicts “a large vessel with curved handles and a wide opening” that ancient Romans would have used to hold wine during feasts. The other is a set of geometric patterns. And the third mosaic shows two dolphins swimming in the waves.
Though Roman mosaics with dolphins have been found in England and Turkey in recent years, archaeologists note that such a floor mosaic is an “absolute rarity” for Upper Austria.
OÖ Landes-Kultur GmbH/FacebookArchaeologists with the dolphin mosaic, which has been described as an “absolute rarity” in Upper Austria.
“[T]he newly discovered floors from Thalheim are truly special both in terms of their state of preservation and their motifs,” the press release noted.
Archaeologists believe that the mosaics date back to the second century C.E., a time when the area was known as the Roman city of Ovilava.
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