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Romans in Britain sported socks with their sandals
London, Aug 28; Ancient Romans in Britain apparently wore socks with their sandals, a modern-day fashion faux-pas, archeologists at work on a 2,000-year-old site in south London have revealed.
London, Aug 28; Ancient Romans in Britain apparently wore socks with their sandals, a modern-day fashion faux-pas, archeologists at work on a 2,000-year-old site in south London have revealed.
A foot belonging to a bronze statue, unearthed on the 1.2 hectare (three acre) site of a Roman temple complex, appears to be wearing a kind of woollen stocking under a Mediterreanean-type sandal.
"It's embarrassing for them," said Nansi Rosenberg, senior archaeological consultant at EC Harris, which is managing the excavation on the site of what will be a high-rise housing and shopping development. "I would think their excuse would be the cold. We know from the writings of Tacitus that the weather in Britain was terrible," she said.
"It is certainly an interesting find... Though there is some documentary evidence for Britons wearing socks with their sandals, this is the first physical evidence."
The statue could have been that of a Roman emperor, or of the god Mars Camulos, who was worshipped in northern France and Britain, she said. The dig in the south London borough of Southwark, which began in 2002, has already yielded a finger-sized container. It was carefully opened in July and found to contain a kind of cream. Bureau Report
A foot belonging to a bronze statue, unearthed on the 1.2 hectare (three acre) site of a Roman temple complex, appears to be wearing a kind of woollen stocking under a Mediterreanean-type sandal.
"It's embarrassing for them," said Nansi Rosenberg, senior archaeological consultant at EC Harris, which is managing the excavation on the site of what will be a high-rise housing and shopping development. "I would think their excuse would be the cold. We know from the writings of Tacitus that the weather in Britain was terrible," she said.
"It is certainly an interesting find... Though there is some documentary evidence for Britons wearing socks with their sandals, this is the first physical evidence."
The statue could have been that of a Roman emperor, or of the god Mars Camulos, who was worshipped in northern France and Britain, she said. The dig in the south London borough of Southwark, which began in 2002, has already yielded a finger-sized container. It was carefully opened in July and found to contain a kind of cream. Bureau Report