Archaeologists in the ancient Roman fortress ruins in northern England have unearthed a batch of 2000-year-old shoes, with some of them being described as “abnormally giant” measuring over 30 centimeters in length. This discovery has puzzled archaeologists, leading them to wonder if there were “bigfoot soldiers” in the Roman Empire.
According to a press release by the Vindolanda Trust, a charity organization in the UK, archaeologists from the foundation recently excavated 32 shoes in a defensive ditch at the Magna Roman Fort in Northumberland on July 2, with 8 of them being exceptionally large.
The length of these 8 shoes exceeded 30 centimeters, equivalent to a modern European size 49 (US size 15). One of them measured up to 32.6 centimeters, setting a new record for the largest shoe found by the foundation. So far, 25% of the shoes unearthed in the area have been classified as XXL (over 30 centimeters).
In contrast, shoes discovered at another ancient Roman fortress site in Vindolanda have mostly been smaller, with only 0.4% classified as the same size, and the average length ranging from 24 to 26 centimeters.
Rachel Frame, a senior archaeologist at the foundation, described this finding as “truly unusual.” She told Reuters, “We are currently working hard to figure out who might have been here.”
She added they were eager to know which legions were stationed there and why “this place was home to so many large shoes compared to elsewhere.”
Frame mentioned that the shoes were able to withstand the test of time mainly due to the low oxygen content in the soil inside the ditch, which prevented organic materials like wood, leather, and textiles from decomposing for centuries.
She noted that the team is delving into the history of the Roman Empire to find answers and emphasized that people from different cultures and backgrounds likely crossed paths at this site.
“When people think of Romans, they often think of Italians and sometimes forget how vast the boundaries of this empire were,” she said.
The foundation stated in their press release that each shoe in their collection is unique and serves as a connection to the person who once wore them. Besides the extra-large shoes, there are also shoes of other sizes found at the Magna site, including children’s sizes.
A video shared by the foundation showcased the numerous shoes already excavated by archaeologists. Elizabeth Greene, Associate Professor at the University of Western Ontario in Canada, personally measured each shoe unearthed at Vindolanda.
Greene remarked that the shoes from the Magna site are notably unusual. Even from this small sample of excavated shoes, it’s evident that the average size of these shoes is much larger than the majority of shoes found at Vindolanda.
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