Roman Footwear and Shoemaking

Abstract:
The exploration of the town of Novae by the International Interdisciplinary Archaeological Expedition of the Adam Mickiewicz University of Poznań yielded several ceramic slabs and bricks bearing imprints of footwear. Within this small corpus of finds, particularly striking is a bipedalis ceramic slab discovered in 1997. Preserved in its entirety, measuring 59.0 × 58.0 cm and of the thickness of 7.5 cm, it is marked with stamp reading LEGIITAL. The slab bears a total of five identifiable imprints of footwear and, interestingly, of bare feet and hands. The number and shapes of the imprints on the discussed item suggest that when it had been removed from the wooden mould and was lying on sand awaiting baking in a kiln, four men, presumably brickmakers and their assistants, walked on its surface — two wearing military caligae, one in civilian footwear, and one barefoot. All of the above instances of imprints of soles of Roman military and civilian footwear on building ceramics from Novae come from the large legionary baths (Sector Xz-PL). Among the tiles and slabs with traces of caligae, six bear stamps reading LEGIITAL classified as Type VI according to Tadeusz Sarnowski and Marta Matuszewska. When discussing individual finds, the present writer has attempted to specify the circumstances in which a man left the imprint of footwear, a bare foot, fingers, hands or a knee on a brick or a ceramic slab which had been freshly removed from the wooden mould. Most of these traces fall into two categories: I. resulting from normal manufacturing activity, and II. produced by accidental, non-standard, or even erroneous human behaviour.
Keywords: Novae, Moesia Inferior, building ceramic, Roman military and civilian footwear

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Update on the footwear discoveries at Vindolanda from the first four periods of occupation, ca. AD 85-120. Conclusions include that there was a significant population of non-adult male individuals in the earliest period of occupation on the site.

The ancient Egyptian city of Tell el-Amarna (or Amarna, ancient Akhetaten) was the short-lived capital built by the controversial Pharaoh Akhenaten, probably the father of the famous Tutankhamun, and abandoned shortly after his death (c. 1336 BCE). It is one of the few Pharaonic cities to have been thoroughly excavated and is a rich source of information about the daily life of the ancient Egyptians.

This volume, the first of two, presents the leatherwork excavated at the site by these various expeditions. The book consists of two parts: the catalogue and the preliminary analysis. The former presents the detailed description of the objects (among which chariot leather and footwear), accompanied by colour photographs and, where necessary, line- and construction drawings. The latter includes an explanation of the Amarna Leatherwork Project as well as preliminary interpretations of the finds.

The ancient Egyptian city of Tell el-Amarna (or Amarna, ancient Akhetaten) was the short-lived capital built by the controversial Pharaoh Akhenaten, probably the father of the famous Tutankhamun, and abandoned shortly after his death (c. 1336 BCE). It is one of the few Pharaonic cities to have been thoroughly excavated and is a rich source of information about the daily life of the ancient Egyptians.
Although the site was first explored in the 18th century by travellers and scholars, it was not until 1892 that it saw the spade of an archaeologist when Sir William Matthews Flinders Petrie started excavations there. He was followed by Ludwig Borchardt (1911-1914), and subsequently by the various excavators from the Egypt Exploration Society (EES) in the 1920s and 1930s. Work was resumed by the EES in 1977 under the direction of Barry J. Kemp, who continues to excavate the city and its environs, now on behalf on the Amarna Trust.
This volume, the first of two, presents the leatherwork excavated at the site by these various expeditions. The book consists of two parts: the catalogue and the preliminary analysis. The former presents the detailed description of the objects (among which chariot leather and footwear), accompanied by colour photographs and, where necessary, line- and construction drawings. The latter includes an explanation of the Amarna Leatherwork Project as well as preliminary interpretations of the finds.
The majority of finds originate from the Pharaonic era, with a smaller portion originating from the Roman and Christian periods.