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The Independent
11 hours ago
- General
- The Independent
Mystery over ‘unusually large' Roman shoes unearthed in Northumberland
Archaeologists were left baffled after unearthing 'unusually large' 2,000-year-old Roman shoes in Northumberland. Eight shoes at least 30cm (11.8in) long - the equivalent of a UK size 13 to 14 - were discovered at Magna Roman Fort earlier this year. Archaeologist Rachel Frame said the leather shoes had all been found in a defensive ditch, which the Romans also used as rubbish dumps. 'We have to assume it's something to do with the people living here, having bigger feet, being potentially taller but we don't know,' she told the BBC. 'Are the people living there from a specific region? Could that be why their shoes are so much larger? But at the moment, it's sort of, well, this is unusual.' Due to low oxygen conditions in the soil at the sites, the leather shoes have been preserved for centuries, according to Dr Frame. Dr Elizabeth Greene, associate professor at the University of Western Ontario and Vindolanda's shoe specialist, has seen and measured every shoe found at the site. She said: 'I think there is something very different going on here at Magna. Even from this small sample uncovered, it is clear that these shoes are much larger on average than most.' Last year, a section of one of Britain's most important Roman roads was unearthed in south-east London in a 'remarkable' archaeological discovery. The 2,000-year-old road, known as Watling Street, ran from the Roman port at Dover through London to the West Midlands. The 276-mile route was built shortly after the Roman invasion of Britain in AD 43 and was used by visiting emperors, including Hadrian in AD 122 when he ordered the building of his wall separating England and Scotland. Archaeologist Gillian King said the discovery had redrawn the Roman road map in the capital. She added: 'It is a key finding for archaeological research for London.' The section of road revealed lies to the south of the junction of Old Kent Road and Ilderton Road and was well-preserved, measuring about 19ft (5.8m) wide by almost 5ft (1.4m) high. Southwark Council said distinct layers could be seen, and showed a solid foundation of compacted gravel sealed by two layers of chalk, before it was topped with another layer of compacted sand and gravel. It added that the original surface of the road would likely have been made from the same material and would have sat at a similar level to the modern road, but over time, this had been lost. The London portion of Watling Street was rediscovered during Christopher Wren's rebuilding of St Mary-le-Bow in 1671 to 1673, following the Great Fire of London in 1666.
BBC News
15 hours ago
- Science
- BBC News
Northumberland Roman Fort mystery over large shoes
Unusually large shoes discovered at a Roman fort have left archaeologists this year, 32 shoes were dug up at the Magna Roman Fort in Northumberland, eight of which were at least 30cm (11.8in) long - the equivalent of a UK size 13 to comparison, of the 5,000 discovered at the nearby Vindolanda settlement in Hexham over the past 55 years, just four or five were that large, according to Roman archaeology expert Dr Elizabeth Rachel Frame said it was still too early to explain the mystery behind the eight large shoes. Ms Frame said the leather shoes had all been found in a defensive ditch, which the Romans also used as rubbish dumps. The largest found at Magna Roman Fort was 32.6cm (12.8in) long, she said. She said there were several theories surrounding their origin."We have to assume it's something to do with the people living here, having bigger feet, being potentially taller but we don't know," she said."Are the people living there from a specific region? Could that be why their shoes are so much larger? But at the moment, it's sort of, well, this is unusual." The team knows very little about the shoes, other than the fact they are likely to be close to 2,000 years this year, it will analyse pottery found in the same soil layers as the shoes to help determine which time period they are can be achieved in several ways, Ms Frame said, including looking at the style of the pottery and checking whether those styles were produced at certain times. Beyond the large shoes, the team also found children's shoes at the site. Ms Frame said the team hoped to have a better idea of who was living there at different time periods following more analysis. So many shoes have been found at both Vindolanda and Magna Roman Fort because of their ground conditions, Ms Frame to low oxygen conditions in the soil at the sites, the leather shoes have been preserved for team also recently found a wooden hair comb on the site."It looks like a modern day knit comb," said Ms Frame. Follow BBC North East on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
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Miami Herald
a day ago
- General
- Miami Herald
‘Exceptionally large' shoe among more than 30 found preserved at Roman fort
Nearly 2,000 years ago, the Romans began their conquest of Britain. The time between when Roman boats landed on British shores in 43 A.D. to the establishment of their empire's northern border was less than a century, and by 122 A.D. Emperor Hadrian ordered the construction of a wall across modern-day England. Today, Hadrian's Wall spans 73 miles and teaches archaeologists and historians about the daily lives of soldiers, forts and trade centers of Roman-era Britain. One of these sites is Magna Fort, located along one of the most complete sections of the famed wall — and archaeologists have just made a 'large' discovery. Excavations of the northern defensive ditches of Magna Fort have revealed 32 shoes buried in the 'semi-anaerobic low oxygen deposits,' according to a July 2 news release from the Vindolanda Charitable Trust, which is in charge of the five-year project. The shoes were abnormally sized, including one 'exceptionally large' shoe first reported in the Magna Dig Diary in May, according to the release. The shoe is 12.6 inches long, roughly a UK size 13/14 or US size 15/16, archaeologists said. 'As news spread of this giant single shoe, the team continued to discover more ancient shoes, several more of them being of an exceptional size,' according to the release. 'Eight shoes from Magna are now recorded as (11.8 inches) or over in length and this includes one which holes the current record for being the Trust's largest shoe at (12.8 inches) long.' The shoes found at another Hadrian's Wall fort, Vinvolanda, have very few shoes that large, but one-fourth of the shoes found at Magna are classed as 'xx-large,' archaeologists said. 'I think there is something very different going on here at Magna, even from this small sample uncovered it is clear that these shoes are much larger on average than most of the Vindolanda collection,' Elizabeth Greene, shoe specialist and associate professor at the University of Western Ontario, said in the release. When the shoes go through the conservation process, like those at Vindolanda have, they have the possibility of shrinking up to 0.4 inches, but even with that shrinkage the Magna shoes would still be larger, Greene said. The other 75% of shoes found at Magna ranged in size, including shoes small enough to fit children, according to the trust. 'Organic finds like this are some of the most precious to come from our sites,' senior archaeologist for the Magna Project, Rachel Frame, said in the release, but officials are worried about how climate change will impact the well-preserved organic material yet to be found. Magna Fort is in Brampton, in northern England, just south of Scotland.
