This partial mosaic floor was most likely stratigraphically contemporaneous with the other partial mosaic floors of Room I-17 (SUs 8402, 8410, 8411, and 8409). This conclusion is based on the consistent presence of similar decorative features (i.e. a band of smaller, white tesserae and a set pattern of rectangular marble crustae). Although there is no evident physical relationship, it is highly likely that SUs 8403, 8402, 8410, and 8411 once composed a unified mosaic floor. It is also possible that SU 8409 connected to the mosaic floor of the eastern side of Room I-20, but there is a notable absence of mosaic in the center of the room (on a N-S axis) and therefore the mosaic might have been purposely separate. Lastly, the small partial mosaic floor in the apsidal Room I-20 might have once been connected as well, but that relationship is far less certain. Not only is it spatially distant, it is located in a different room that might have had a threshold separating the two spaces. Further investigation is necessary to understand the relationship between Rooms I-17 and I-20.

Decorative mosaic floor in a large domestic space, possibly an atrium or peristyle courtyard.