The latest design in the Roman mosaic has been completed. Nicknamed the Jester’s Hat by the volunteers, it features a Gordian knot at its centre. The very last of the black and white border has also been finished, so the end of the mosaic is truely in sight now, leading up to ‘E- Day’ when the elephant design from Whatley villa will complete the floor. Meanwhile in the longhall work continued on the last panel in the Alfred and the Vikings mural.
'Hands on Heritage' in the Avalon Marshes 
Excited to hear that you plan to include the Whatley elephant: a great favourite! Just making sure that you know of the photograph of it; it wasn’t quite the toy-like object in the print (although that is truly charming).
Hi Pat. We were going to use the image in the SW mosaics book. Is there a better image of the elephant and palm trees that we should be following instead?
Hi Richard
There’s an old photograph of the actual elephant in the SANHS library, taken before the mosaic was destroyed. It was in a file labelled ‘Archaeology file, Whatley’ when I came across it some years ago. I published it, with permission, in ‘Mosaic’ (the ASPROM journal) 34 (2007), 18-20 incl figs – the SANHS library should have a copy of that too. (I might have a spare copy of that issue of ‘Mosaic’ if you want it.)
The elephant in the photograph isn’t as much fun as the depiction in the lithograph! If you decide to carry on using the latter, it would be good to make sure visitors are aware it’s based on a 19th century record by a local man – who was not an artist – and that the ‘real’ elephant was much better.
The mosaicist has been libelled for so long about his/her elephant expertise that I feel quite protective!
Pat
Hi Pat. We should definitely try and get as close to the original as possible so the photograph will be much better than the lithograph. If you had a spare copy of that Mosaic (or a scan of the photo) that would be wonderful. Otherwise I will try and refind the original you mention in the SANHS collection. Hopefully a chance to publicly set the record straight for the Whatley mosaicist.