Hinton St Mary Mosaic

The panel in the larger room is . A central circle surrounds a portrait bust of a man wearing what might be a pallium standing before a Christian chi-rho symbol flanked by two pomegranates. He is generally identified as Christ, although the Emperor Constantine I has also been suggested despite the absence of any insignia or identifiers pointing to a particular emperor other than the chi-rho. On each side of this are four lunettes, each featuring conventional forest and hunting vignettes, mostly of a dog and a deer. In the corners are four quarter circles containing portrait busts, either representing the winds or the seasons. ==Pagan panel==

The panel in the smaller room is . It consists of a central circle containing an image of characters from Roman mythology, Bellerophon killing the Chimera. This has been interpreted in a more Christian context as representing good defeating evil. Flanking this are two rectangular panels again featuring dogs hunting deer. ==Context==

The mosaic was discovered on 12 September 1963 by the local blacksmith, Walter John White. It was cleared by the Dorset County Museum with help from local people and the layout of the mosaic room resembles a Roman triclinium, or dining room. However, after excavations in 2021 and 2022 it is no longer thought to be part of a villa. There were no finds dated earlier than . ==Destruction==

In 2000, a new roof was erected by architects Foster and Partners to cover the previously open courtyard of the British Museum. As part of this major building work it was decided that the Hinton St Mary mosaic should be moved. The previously intact mosaic, which was fixed to the museum floor, was levered up and broken into pieces by Museum staff in 1997. Chris Smith, the former Director of ‘Art Pavements’ which moved the mosaic from Dorset, was described as "outraged at what he saw as an act of vandalism and stated that it was completely unnecessary as moving the mosaic was quite feasible without damage." The pieces are now stored in boxes in the museum vaults with only the central Christian portrait on display in the Gallery. The Association for the Study and Preservation of Roman Mosaics also produced a factsheet with an explanation of the design of the entire intact mosaic. ==Renewed excavations from 2021 onwards==

The British Museum asked Dr Peter Guest of Vianova Archaeology ==Possible partial return to Dorset==

On 2 August 2019, Hinton St Mary villagers and the Chair of the Dorset Unitary Authority were told at a closed-door meeting with the British Museum that the mosaic would be partially returned to the Dorset County Museum. However, the head of Christ would not be returned, as the original would be "loaned to museums worldwide". A replica would be given to the Dorset County Museum. ==References==