Roman Soldier's Shoe Buried at English Fort

NORTHUMBERLAND, ENGLAND—According to a report by Live Science, archaeologists working at the Roman fort of Magna in northern England were stunned when a peculiar object was recently pulled from a defensive ditch they were excavating—a soldier’s leather shoe. While shoes are not uncommon finds in the area, and thousands have been found at the nearby fort of Vindolanda, what made this one particularly noteworthy was its size. Experts estimate that it is the equivalent of a modern-day US men’s size 14. Previous research has suggested that the average Roman male would have worn something closer to an 8.5, so this shoe belonged to one extraordinarily large soldier. The footwear was found at the bottom of a trench known as an “ankle breaker.” The Roman army would dig these narrow, deep features and fill them with water. The trenches were hard for enemy combatants to see and easy for them to trip on, thereby causing them to break their ankles. To read about the shoes and other remnants of daily life at Vindolanda, go to "The Wall at the End of the Empire: Life on the Frontier."