Archaeologists excavating Roman forts in northern England have unearthed several giant ancient leather soles measuring over 11.8 inches (30 cm).
This discovery adds to the growing collection of archaeologists of ultra-elevated ancient shoes found in ancient forts known as Magna. Researchers currently have eight of these extra extra lasing shoes. This is one quarter of the total found on the site.
“I think something very different is happening here in Magna,” says Elizabeth Green, an archaeologist and ancient shoe expert at Western University, Ontario, Canada. “Even with these small samples being discovered, it is clear that these shoes are on average much larger than most of the Vindolanda collection.”
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The shoe was discovered in Magna, also known as Carborane. The fort along Hadrian’s wall was built in 122 AD and exerted the boundary in the northern part of the Roman Empire. Magna is located about 7 miles (11 km) west of Vindlanda. This is a large Roman auxiliary fort, well known for its remarkable preservation of tablets, military medals and leather shoes.
In May, archaeologists unearthed giant leather shoes while digging through the bottom of a defensive trench “breaking the ankle.” The flooding of the grooves created an oxygen-free environment that preserves leather shoes. The sole of the giant shoe was 12.6 inches (32 cm) long. This is equivalent to today’s men’s 14 or UK size 13 shoes. In the context, the average American male shoe size is about 10.5, with basketball player LeBron James wearing the US size and Michael Jordan wearing the US 13.5.
The statement revealed that more excavations were revealed, and the Magna groove, which was added to a collection of over 5,000 ancient leather shoes found at a fort near Vindlanda, contained a total of 32 shoes ranging from children to adults.
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However, Magna shoes meet the name. 25% of the shoes collected so far are over 11.8 inches long. One of them is 12.8 inches (32.6 cm) long and is the largest shoe recorded in the Vindolanda collection. In contrast, 16 of the 3,704 measurable shoes from Fort Vindolanda (just 0.4%) exceeded 11.8 inches in length.
Archaeologists don’t know why Magna shoes are so big.
The findings “remind us that not all populations are the same, and that there can be a large fluctuation between the regiment and those who served along the walls of Hadrian, which could be cultural and physical,” said Andrewberley, director of excavation at the Vindlanda Trust.
Green, who measured all the shoes in the Vindolanda collection, warned that a direct comparison of Magna and Vindolanda could not be made yet, as Magna leather has not yet gone through the preservation process. But even taking this into consideration, Green said, “it means that these shoes are actually very large.”
“If we can still see them with the archaeological data we collect today, we can celebrate and marvel at the diversity and differences of these people,” Burley said.
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