An interesting new archaeological discovery: a Roman leather sandal from 2,000 years ago! This leather shoe was found in the north of England, in a Roman fort near the Hadrian’s Wall. Archaeologists were so struck about the size of the sandal because it was huge, so they thought this shoe belonged to a Roman soldier with huge feet.
Apart from the sandal, archaeologists found other things which are also crucial to understand Roman history and its civilization. So let’s not waste more time and see what happened to this Roman sandal!
New archaeological discovery, this time: a sandal
A leather sandal was found in northern England from the Roman era and it was so well preserved for more than 2,000 years that archaeologists could properly study it. However, what caught their attention the most was the size of it, it was huge!
This wasn’t the only thing they found, other daily life objects were uncovered too.
Where was the shoe found?
Magna was the place, it was an ancient Roman fort near the Hadrian’s Wall and today it’s a protected place by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). Many people think the Hadrian’s Wall was built to separate England and Scotland, but it was actually to protect the Roman Empire from possible invaders from the North.
This wall was secured by groups of soldiers who guarded the area. Apparently, one of the soldiers had huge feet or at least that’s what the found sandal made archaeologists think.
A well preserved sandal
This Roman sandal has been preserved in the ground for more than 2,000 years, how is this possible? Well, the shoe was in an area with special mud with anaerobic properties (no oxygen) which is perfect for leather -one of the materials found in the shoe – because it doesn’t go bad with the passage of time.
In fact, archaeologists found two sandals, but one was so damaged that they could even know the size of it. However, the other sandal was complete and it measured 32 cm long, it would be a size 15 in the United States. So, this is evidence of a soldier’s huge feet, it’s huge even now imagine back then…
Other findings in the Magna fort
The sandal was not the only thing archaeologists found, other objects helped in the understanding of Roman soldiers’ way of life. Some of these objects were:
- Fine-tooth wooden comb.
- Pieces of pottery.
- Wooden tent pegs.
- Beads.
- Marble make-up palette.
These objects show they also cared about themselves, even at times when they were living in military camps far from Rome.
What we can learn from findings like this
Most of the people reading this might think finding these objects means nothing for us nor history, but nothing could be further from the truth. These everyday objects can tell us so many things about the Roman period and how the citizens lived their lives back then. Let’s take the example of the leather sandal, it shows more than what foot size was a Roman soldier, it is also a way to know how Roman soldiers looked, the military organization and how their traditions and military camps were.
To sum up, don’t be influenced by the size because, as you can see, small objects can tell big stories. Who would have thought an old sandal from the Roman era was going to be so valuable for history? Let’s give every archaeological discovery the importance they deserve, since each of them is a lesson to be learnt about the past. No matter what they find, it will always be important.