Roman soldier threw away worn-out shoe 2,000 years ago. Archaeologists just found it
For archaeologists in Germany, the worn-out cliche that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure came true in the most literal sense.
Archaeologists excavated a playground in Haltern am See as part of an ongoing construction project, the Westphalia-Lippe Regional Association said in a Nov. 14 news release. Because the playground sat near a known ancient Roman military camp, the team expected to find at least something.
But what reemerged surprised them.
At the playground, archaeologists found several ancient Roman waste pits, including one with shoe fragments, officials said. A Roman soldier likely threw away the worn-out shoe about 2,000 years ago.
A photo shows the ancient shoe remains, which look like a collection of small metal pins arranged in a footprint shape. Archaeologists identified the artifact as a caligae, a marching boot worn in the Roman military.
Caligae sandals were made of leather and nails, Bettina Tremmel, a Roman archaeologist with the government, said in the release. The soles had three leather layers held together with dozens of small nails. Roman soldiers did not wear socks but walked on the hammered and folded-over nails.
Another photo shows a reconstruction of what caligae shoe soles looked like.
During the dig, archaeologists removed an entire block of dirt to preserve the delicate shoe fragments, officials said.
Excavations at the playground also unearthed two ovens used for bread baking, a glass game piece and traces of a wooden wall. Officials plan to display the finds at a Roman museum in Haltern am See.
Haltern am See is a town in northwestern Germany, a roughly 320-mile drive west of Berlin and near the border with the Netherlands.
Google Translate was used to translate the news release from the Westphalia-Lippe Regional Association (LWL).
This story was originally published November 14, 2024 at 11:20 AM with the headline "Roman soldier threw away worn-out shoe 2,000 years ago. Archaeologists just found it."
