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Mosaic carpets served as popular decorations in the homes of the rich and in places of worship at least as early as the fifth century B.C.E. Artists first used natural pebbles to compose their mosaics. One exceptional example of a pebble mosaic adorns the House of Mosaics at Motya, Sicily. Dated to sometime after 397 B.C.E., this mosaic depicts a fight between two animals, apparently some type of feline on the back of a hoofed animal.