At first glance, the remains of ancient Roman sandals look more like small, twisted corpses than shoes. But on closer inspection and using X-rays, archaeologists say shoe parts found at an ancient military site are unusually well preserved.
The remains of a shoe discovered in a 2,000-year-old fortress near the town of Oberstim, Bavaria, Germany, included a sole and iron nails that would have provided traction on “rough terrain,” according to the translation. name From the Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments (BLfD). Normally only the nails of these shoes remain, but this was a rare case in which the sole survived as well. Archaeologists discovered remains in a well of an ancient fortress. Before an X-ray was taken, it was thought the twisted mass contained the remains of an old scythe, according to a statement from BLfD.
“The so-called Caligae [shoes] “The clothing was mainly worn by Roman soldiers during the Roman Empire,” said Amira Adaille, a consultant at the Bavarian State Monuments Conservation Office. But the find “shows that the customs, lifestyle and clothing that the Romans brought to Bavaria were adopted by the local population.” Other finds from the site include Roman pottery, food waste and tools.
The remains don’t look like today’s “gladiator sandals” at all, but the reproductions published by BLfD are surprisingly familiar – and even stylish – and depict what the Roman fort was originally thought to have looked like when it was occupied between 60 and 130 AD.
