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2,000-Year-Old Footprint Uncovered

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Footprint vindolanda england hadrians wall fortVINDOLANDA, ENGLAND—Archaeologists at the site of Vindolanda in northern England have unearthed another piece of evidence of the daily life of the Roman soldiers and their families who lived on Hadrian’s Wall two millennia ago. The Vindolanda Charitable Trust reports that a volunteer has uncovered a tile with the partial imprint of an adolescent’s right foot made, either accidentally or purposely, when they clay was drying. Although excavators have found other footprints belonging to dogs and cats at the site, as well as more than 6,000 shoes, this is the first human footprint to have been found. “This footprint highlights even more that archaeology has the potential to illuminate the lives of otherwise voiceless individuals from antiquity,” says Field School Director archaeologist Elizabeth Greene. To read about how the soldiers at Vindolanda spent their free time, go to "Artifact." 

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