Posted on 07/14/2025 1:25:49 PM PDT by Red Badger
Archaeologists working at the Magna Roman Fort in northern England have made a series of huge discoveries, in the very literal sense.
Recent excavations at the ancient Roman fortification have unearthed several examples of gigantic shoes, with one representing what could be among the largest examples of historic footwear ever found.
The unusual discoveries are offering researchers fresh new insights into the diversity of the people who worked along Hadrian’s Wall close to 2,000 years ago.
A Gigantic Discovery The discoveries are among the latest that have made their way into the Vindolanda Charitable Trust’s remarkable collection, with similar examples of Roman footwear already numbering close to 5,000 shoes unearthed from the nearby Roman Vindolanda site.
From 2000-year-old baby shoes to more rugged footwear worn by Roman soldiers, the archaeological discoveries made at the site offer researchers a unique glimpse at the connections between everyday items in the lives of men, women, and children from the Roman frontier.
However, the recent discovery of one extremely large Roman shoe at the dig site came as an unexpected addition to the growing collection of Roman footwear archaeologists are uncovering.
Excavations at Magna Fort Throughout the summer dig season at Magna Fort, around 32 preserved Roman shoes have been uncovered. These artifacts were preserved in large part thanks to the low-oxygen, semi-anaerobic conditions in the surrounding soil.
However, the team quickly realized that some of the discoveries they were unearthing weren’t the usual kind their past excavations had yielded. In particular, a massive leather shoe sole discovered by the team in mid-May was so large that it reportedly caused gasps among the archaeologists as it was removed from the surrounding soil.
“There was no doubt about the size of the second shoe we recovered from the very base of the ditch, was intact from toe to heel and immediately drew impressed gasps from volunteers and staff alike,” read a Magna Dig Diary entry on the 21st of May written by Rachel Frame, Senior Archaeologist at the site.
gigantic shoes
One of the largest among the gigantic shoes unearthed at Magna Fort, which measures 32.5 cm (Image Credit: The Vindolanda Trust).
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Frame added that “the sheer size of the shoe and guesses about who could have worn it dominated the conversation.” The sole was measured to be 32 cm long, which is comparable to a UK men’s size 12-14 in modern footwear. While not particularly uncommon today, an individual with a shoe size that large walking among the Romans working at Hadrian’s Wall 2000 years ago would likely have seemed gigantic indeed.
The massive shoe is currently one of the largest in the Trust’s collection. More remarkable still is that it wasn’t the only example of super-sized early Roman footwear the team would unearth.
More gigantic Shoes Are Discovered
As the initial discovery of the Roman “giant” shoe attracted significant attention among archaeologists at Magna Fort, soon more discoveries began to follow. Altogether, researchers at the site say they have now uncovered eight shoes that all measure 30 cm or greater, with one 32.6 cm specimen topping out as the largest now held in the Trust’s growing collection of ancient footwear.
By comparison, most of the shoes previously found at the site measure between just 24 and 26 cm, with recent larger examples representing less than half a percent of the shoes excavated at Vindolanda.
“I think there is something very different going on here at Magna,” said Dr. Elizabeth Greene, a shoe specialist for the Trust and Associate Professor at the University of Western Ontario, who added that, “it is clear that these shoes are much larger on average than most of the Vindolanda collection”.
Noting the unusual nature of the recent finds, Greene added that “even taking into account a maximum shrinkage of up to 1 cm/10 mm, it still means these shoes are very large indeed.”
VIDEO AT LINK............
Trouble ‘Afoot’ for Future Discoveries?
Greene and her colleagues believe the diversity seen in the Magna shoe collection may reflect a mix of cultural, physical, and possibly even regional differences among the regiments stationed along the Wall.
However, recent concerning climate events could spell trouble for future excavations, meaning that important information about the ancient way of life at sites like Magna Fort could potentially be lost before archaeologists are able to collect information from these locations.
Dr Andrew Birley, the Trust’s CEO and Director of Excavations, said in a statement that the recent discoveries at the site “really shows us what is at risk if climate change continues to rob us of such vital information.”
“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,” Birley said.
“Without artefacts like these wonderful shoes from Magna and Vindolanda, it would be almost impossible to know information like this,” Birley added. “We can only celebrate and marvel at the diversity and differences of these people if we can still see them in the archaeological data we gather today”.
Micah Hanks is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. He can be reached by email at micah@thedebrief.org. Follow his work at micahhanks.com and on X: @MicahHanks.
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Dr Andrew Birley, the Trust’s CEO and Director of Excavations, said in a statement that the recent discoveries at the site “really shows us what is at risk if climate change continues to rob us of such vital information.”
32.5 cm is 13 inches. So a size 13. Big deal.
“We can only celebrate and marvel at the diversity and differences of these people if we can still see them in the archaeological data we gather today”
Oh, the wonders of diversity! That must mean the Romans were a better and more moral civilization than we are.
How about mud shoes, or another kind of overshoe protection?
I replied to FReeper Son-Joshua's post that I'd lean toward Goliath being Anakim more than Nephalim (Gath was the home of the Anakim). But in truth we're not sure because the 1st Samuel text doesn't say why he was a giant.
But as far as Nephilim after the flood goes, it's possible. Think about it. Who exactly was on the ark and exactly which ones do we have the info on their ancestry?
Answer: We have no info for the ancestry of the wives of Noah and his sons. So it's entirely possible that the genes from the Nephilim or anyone else were passed on through the wives. It's also possible there were some recessive genes going on (i.e. Japheth's wife and Ham's wife might have been normal size or whatever even though they may have been carrying some recessive genes of the Nephilim or from anyone else. Likewise, with Noah's wife, or for that matter one of the men might have had a recessive gene.)
Us size 14 according to the chart I looked up.
Not the only way to square the circle.
sons of God can refer to creatures that in some way more closely resemble God than most.
Being a spiritual being is an option; participating in the supernatural//elevated activity of God is a second.
In this case I would (and have) argued for the descendants of Adam retaining a higher level of initial knowledge and coordination that was lost over time—talented folks in some ways, but a bit too inclined to think that by propagating themselves things will turn out fine.
Really talented offspring resulting, who lack paternal oversight. Bastards in multiple senses of the word
Think Elon Musk on viagra as far as the sons of God go.
(sorry for jumping in with an alternative take, SJ-—gundog is an old friend)
Aliens.
So I am NOT a later day Nephalim and have a much lesser chance of dying in a flood. Cool.
Making the destruction of humanity and Earth by the Deluge a moot point. That’s a pretty big oopsie, but I guess God would be up to it. If God made oopsies.
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/29487/it-true-what-they-say-about-guys-big-feet
Is It True What They Say About Guys With Big Feet?
An investigation in the name of science.
“The Nephilim were descendants of Satan’s fallen angels who mated with human women.”
Angels, fallen or not, lack bodies.
These footwear were found in North England and date to 100 AD.
THE Goliath David fight took place in Israel around 1000 BC, thousands of km and 1100+ years separate Goliath from the age of these shoes
There was a Roman burial unearthed where there was almost an entire skeleton. The occupant would have been 6’ 7” or 6’ 8” in life. Founder Petrie an early Egyptian archeologist (I think I remember this right!) found a leg bone attributed to a Pharaoh of the 2nd Dynasty and his height is estimate to be 8’. I had two friends in high school who could have worn that shoe.
All this shows that genetic disorders gigantism/acromegaly were human conditions not unknown to the ancient world. Considering how closely the Pharaohs interbred its a wonder they maintained 2 arms, 2 legs & 1 head!
I guess you're focused on sinful nature as though it's passed genetically (thus the flood was meant to wipe out the sin lineages). I'm seeing it as who's going to raise the post-flood people (righteous Noah to raise them instead of the more blatant sinners who died in the flood).
I guess either way the proof was in the pudding. The sinful tower of Babel (Genesis 11) was just a couple of chapters after the flood. Evidently some of the sinful nature survived on the ark. And of course we know that from the rest of the Bible, including that Jesus had to die for our sins.
Angels are nit material beings and can’t mate with humans.
The sons of God are the Sethites and the daughters of man are Cainites
It belonged to Al Bundy’s ancestor in Lower Uncton, England.
UK 12 - 14 = US 13 - 15. My eighteen year old wears a 14. 6’1, 285 lbs. Big, but not unusually large nowadays.
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