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Roman hobnailed shoe found in playground in Germany
An excavation in a children’s playground adjacent to the Roman military camp at Haltern am See, northern Germany, has uncovered the remains of a hobnailed boot, a glass game piece and evidence of the camp’s wood-earth defensive wall.
Archaeologists with the Westphalia-Lippe Regional Association (LWL) began excavating the site this summer accompanying construction work on the playground. Its proximity to the fortifications of the 1st century Roman camp of Aliso made it likely that archaeological materials were to be found at the location.
Aliso was built during the reign of the emperor Augustus as part of his aim to establish the province of Magna Germania, a much larger territory in northwestern Europe that would stretch from the Rhine in the west to the Vistula in the east and the Danube in the south. Augustus’ ambition was dashed to bloody pieces at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 A.D.
Arminius, leader of the Cherusci tribe and former ally of Rome who was responsible for the resounding defeat of three legions and the permanent derailment of all hopes of imperial expansion into Germany, besieged Aliso after his victory over the winter of 9/10 A.D. The garrison put up a great fight, and ultimately managed to escape destruction, but Aliso would be the last of the six military camps built by Augustus during his Germanic campaigns to be held by Rome after Teutoburg. The camp was occupied until 16 A.D.
Archaeological evidence of the siege — lead and stone slingshot balls, arrowheads, mass graves — and remains of the camp’s south, west and east gates have been found in previous excavations. The playground is located on the wood-earth wall, and the excavation found well-preserved post holes from the wall. It also uncovered two bread-baking pit ovens and several waste pits. The boot was found in one of the waste pits.
LWL archaeologist Dr. Bettina Tremmel said: “A legionnaire threw his worn-out caliga into one of these waste pits and disposed of it that way. The shoe leather has now completely decomposed in the sandy soil of Haltern. However, the shoe nails that were under the sole of the shoe remained in place.”
The archaeologists tracked these down with the help of a so-called pinpointer, a compact mini metal detector. “In one place we found shoe nails lying close together and used the pinpointer to continue the search. This hit an area of 20 by 20 centimeters,” says Tremmel. The archaeologists then recovered the entire block of earth in order not to change the position of the small metal finds in the ground and to ensure that they could be transported without breakage.
“The shoe must have been relatively small and turned over in the heel area. There is a 90-degree bend there,” says LWL restorer Andreas Weisgerber. “We also looked at whether organic matter might have been preserved on the iron oxides. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Judging by the length of the nail thorn, the sole was about 0.8 centimeters thick.”
“The soles of the Caligae shoes consisted of three layers of leather, which were held together by small, hand-forged nails. The tips of the nails were folded over on the top of the sole,” adds Tremmel. “As the legionaries did not wear socks, walking on the 60 nails hammered into each sole must have been almost like a massage,” she believes.
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