Israel's antiquities authority has unveiled a 1,700-year-old mosaic floor that archaeologists found last year while building a visitors' center meant to display another mosaic, discovered two decades earlier at the same spot.
The authority said today that the newly discovered Roman-era mosaic measures 11 meters by 13 meters (36 feet by 42 feet).
It paved the courtyard of a villa in an affluent neighborhood that stood during the Roman and Byzantine eras. The scenes include hunting animals, fish, vases and birds.
Amir Gorzalczany, who directed the excavation, says the "quality of the images portrayed in the mosaic indicates a highly developed artistic ability."
The mosaics were found in what is today the central Israeli city of Lod.
