Opus sectile pavements in the Crimea and on the East Coast of the Black Sea

Mosaic pavements were widely used in the decoration of the 5th-6th century Crimean churches. [...] The Early Byzantine pavements of Chersonesos and Partenitai are of the type known as the geometric opus sectile a piccoli elementi. The 10th-11th century pavement from the domed church (no 34) is made of small fragments of marble and stone. On the East Coast of the Black Sea, an opus sectile a piccoli elementi pavement was discovered in Sebastopolis (modern Sukhum) in the Early Christian basilica. Another example is the pavement in the Roman villa rustica in the vicinity of Petra (modern Tsihizdziri). In both cases the pavements combine units of ceramic and Proconessian marble. (Author’s abstract.)