Roman Painted Wall Plaster

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Everyday life in Roman Staines unfolds like a vibrant piece of painted wall plaster. Some individuals in Roman Staines made out well by selling provisions to passing travelers; their houses boasted tiled roofs, Opus Signinum (concrete) floors, hypocaust flue tiles (under floor heating), window glass and exquisitely painted walls. This is one of many fragments of painted wall plaster unearthed in Staines. If you take a closer look, you can spot a groove on the back where the slaked lime/sand/aggregate plaster was attached to the wooden 'wattle' frame of the wall, and a thin, fine smooth layer of crushed marble applied to the outer surface for painting purposes. Analysis by the University of Leicester revealed our painted plaster to be painted in the traditional 'buon fresco' style, or when the plaster was still damp, meaning plastering and painting were completed in panels of one day's work before the plaster dried. This tiny fragment measures approximately 2cm across, and photography employed a 50mm lens at F22.