Deposited there via seismic activity, it was built in the ancient spa town of Baiae, where it would have lined the floors of a patio in a seaside villa owned by the Roman patrician class.
![](https://d1mnxluw9mpf9w.cloudfront.net/media/1722961646/ancient-archaeology.jpg)
The villa is part of an area of land that became submerged as the result of a geological phenomenon called bradyseism, during which the ground rises or, as in this case, falls due to pressure under the surface.