Short answers, pulled from the story.
The year 1932 marked the start of a massive archaeological effort in what is now Antakya, Turkey. A consortium of five institutions launched expeditions to uncover ancient monuments at the site of old Antioch.
The remaining pieces were distributed among the participating international institutions including the Worcester Art Museum, Princeton University, the Louvre, and the Baltimore Museum of Art. Transporting these fragile artifacts required pouring large amounts of concrete behind each piece to create stable backing for moving them across oceans.
Artists working during the third century AD used white and colored marble alongside limestone for their tesserae. These small blocks formed both realistic scenes and purely geometric patterns on the ancient floors.
Violent earthquakes struck in 526 and again in 528 destroying much of the ancient metropolis and forcing survivors to rebuild elsewhere. The destruction marked the end of an era where such elaborate floor decorations were common leaving only the hard stone mosaics standing.
One specific piece known as The Worcester Hunt measures significantly larger than most other examples found at the site. It stands as the largest Antioch mosaic currently displayed within the United States.