In the north of England, archaeologists came across shoes of gigantic size, which were worn by ancient Roman soldiers.
In Great Britain, archaeologists discovered shoes of gigantic size, which were worn by the defenders of the Roman fort of Magna in the first centuries of our era.
The size of the shoes – more than 30 cm, which corresponds to the modern 46th – amazed scientists, because the average foot size in those days was much smaller.
This was reported by CNN with reference to senior archaeologist Rachel Frame, who heads the excavations in northern England.
The shoes were found on the territory of the military fort of Magna, located along Hadrian’s Wall – a stone wall 117 km long, erected to protect the Roman Empire from the tribes of the north.
The shoes are made of thick cowhide, sewn with iron nails – apparently for long-term use. But scientists are surprised not only by their preservation, but also by their size: for that era, this is an unusually large foot.
“We looked for many explanations. For example, maybe these were their winter shoes, or people stuffed them by wearing extra socks. But as we later found more such shoes, we thought that these were just people with very large feet,” Frame said.
Fort Magna functioned from 85 AD, the guards in it changed every few years. Archaeologists have found references to soldiers from the territories of modern Syria, Croatia, Serbia and the Netherlands. But who exactly the owners of the shoes were is still a mystery.
Probably, the soldiers left their things behind when fleeing the garrison – and this allowed these artifacts to be found more than 1900 years later. The exceptionally well-preserved leather soles were preserved thanks to a special tanning process using vegetable substances.
The researchers’ immediate plans include studying the imprints left inside the shoes and modeling the feet of the owners based on their shape.
Excavations at the fort are ongoing. Archaeologists hope that such finds will help to better understand the daily lives of Roman legionaries on the edge of the empire.