What would you name a Roman soldier who has size 14 feet? At Magna, the answer could be “normal.” The discovery of a hoard of supersized Roman shoes at the Magna fort on Hadrian’s Wall has made archaeologists ponder and historians reconsider assumptions regarding the multicultural nature of the Roman frontier. While ancient footwear is normally identical to the sizes found today, Magna’s digs have turned expectations on their head: 25 percent of the shoes unearthed at the site measure more than 11.8 inches long, a ratio that far surpasses the 0.4 percent discovered at the neighboring and equally historic Vindolanda fort where thousands of Roman shoes have been cataloged.
The Magna shoes, some with soles stretching to 12.8 inches comparable to a modern US men’s size 14 were discovered in the fort’s northern defensive ditches, a zone notorious in antiquity as an “ankle-breaker” designed to thwart invaders. These ditches, now waterlogged and oxygen-poor, have become a time capsule for organic materials, preserving leather for nearly two millennia. “Even from this small sample uncovered, it is clear that these shoes are much larger on average than most of the Vindolanda collection,” Dr. Elizabeth Greene, Associate Professor of the University of Western Ontario and expert on Roman footwear, commented. She added, Even taking into account a maximum shrinkage of up to 1 cm, it still means these shoes are very large indeed.
The stabilization of these artifacts is largely due to the special soil chemistry of the area. The anaerobic, waterlogged conditions at Vindolanda and Magna resist the growth of fungi and aerobic bacteria that normally break down organic material. Instead, specialized microbial groups characterized by Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, and Proteobacteria are favored, with the development of minerals such as vivianite indicating ideal preservation layers rich in phosphorus and iron. This unusual convergence of environmental conditions has enabled not just footwear but also wooden objects and even writing tablets to exist where they would have otherwise been destroyed.
Why, though, so many giant shoes at Magna, and yet not at Vindolanda only 11 kilometers distant? The anomaly has generated various theories. Rachel Frame, Magna Senior Archaeologist, noted, “We have to assume it’s something to do with the people living here, having bigger feet, being potentially taller but we don’t know.” The population of the fort was a microcosm of the Roman Empire’s extent, including Syrian archers, Dalmatians, Batavians, and legionaries from distant provinces. This melting pot might have brought regional differences in height and foot size, or alternatively, different provisioning habits.
Tim Penn, an archaeologist from the University of Reading, has proposed other explanations. “Maybe the massive shoes were worn by soldiers with swollen feet or other injuries that required them to wear medical dressings,” he wrote. It might also be that these were winter boots, intended to fit several layers of socks or insulation a possibility suggested by the finding of a well-preserved letter referring to the shipment of underpants and socks to a soldier who was at the fort. Considering the fact that men from more temperate regions, including Syria, were present at Magna, having extra insulation for the cold, moist Northumberland climate would seem reasonable.
Roman military footwear itself was an engineering marvel. Heavy-soled, hobnailed caligae, the standard issue boots, were made of thick cowhide fortified with iron, for hard use and traction over bad ground, as well as to endure the rigors of long marches and combat. Soldiers’ shoes were frequently bespoke, and the fact that there are both children’s and adult sizes at Magna indicates a community of families rather than an army of fighting men. The process of manufacturing involved tanning using vegetable or mineral agents, a process which resulted in leather that did not decay, if it was stored in the proper conditions.
Conservation of such discoveries is itself a technical feat. Leather finds, having been removed from their preserving burial context, are prone to quick decay. Methods like the Micro Hot Table method enable conservators to determine the hydrothermal stability of collagen fibers in the leather so that treatments are adapted to the condition and history of the artifact and avoid shrinkage or gelatinization that will be irreversible.
To decode the enigma of Magna’s huge shoes, scientists are resorting to sophisticated analytical methods. Through wear pattern and foot impression studies, archaeologists aim to build up the profiles of the original wearer. When combined with accurate dating of accompanying pottery and artifacts, these measures can shed light on whether the enormous footwear indicates a distinctive population, a particular purpose, or a provisioning peculiarity in an out-of-the-way empire outpost.
As Vindolanda Trust CEO and director of excavations Andrew Birley said, “It reminds us that not every population was the same, that wide variations between the regiments and people who served along Hadrian’s Wall, could be cultural and physical.” The Magna shoes, in their unlikely size and extraordinary preservation, provide an unusual window into the everyday experience and diversity of Rome’s northernmost border.
