Archaeologists Excavated a Roman Fort and Made a Weird Discovery: a Huge Ancient Shoe
Here's what you'll learn when you read this story:
Excavations at the Roman fort Magna in northern England have already yielded three ancient leather shoes, one of which is staggering in size.
The team digging through defensive ditches on their way to excavating the fort itself found a 2,000-year-old shoe comparable to at least a modern men's size 14 shoe.
The shoes were found in a part of the trench designed to trap the feet of those trying to cross it.
About 2,000 years ago, Roman soldiers dug a deep and narrow defensive ditch on the outside of a fort in an attempt to stymie oncoming enemies who weren't paying attention or misjudged the depth. Evidently, the ditch worked, gobbling up multiple shoes during its heyday, a few of which were just discovered by an archaeological crew— and one shoe in particular made quit the impression for its transparent size.
Crews working at the Vindolanda Trust project to excavate the Magna Roman fort in northern England started from the outside of the site, working toward the main fort, meaning that they're running into some defensive ditches on the outer edges of the site. While pottery and other smaller items have been recovered, the team has been surprised by no less than three 2,000-year-old leather shoes still intact, including one at an impressive 12.6 inches long.
It 'immediately drew impressed gasps from volunteers and staff alike,' Rachel Frame, senior archaeologist for the dig project, wrote on the project's diary page.
The first shoe the crew discovered had all its sole layers intact, along with part of the heel, and most of the hobnails on the outer sole. 'This gives us a really good look at how Roman shoes were made: multiple layers of leather were used to form the sole, held together with tongs, stitching, and hobnails,' Frame wrote. 'These also reinforced the outer surface for walking and are found on many styles of shoe.'
The toe area was missing on the first shoe, not allowing the team to estimate the original size, even if it was 'clear this would have been a large shoe when complete.'
It probably wasn't large enough to measure up to the second find, a shoe recovered from the base of an 'ankle-breaker' ditch designed to trap soldiers. These ditches were deep and narrow, filled with water to hide the depth, designed to trip up and trap oncoming soldiers. The ancient piece of footwear found in the ditch measured, from heel to toe, a whopping 12.6 inches. That's comparable to a size 14 shoe in men's U.S. sizes. For reference, the 6-foot-9-inch NBA star LeBron James wears a size 15.
The shoe only had one of the sole layers, but Frame said guesses about who could have worn it dominated the conversation, and that it is likely one of the largest shoes in the Vindolanda Trust collection.
She said on a YouTube video from the site that they have now found three shoes along with various other pieces of scrap leather, most of which appear to be from shoes but will be properly identified by a leather specialist.
Finding complete shoe examples can 'tell us much more about shoe manufacturing techniques and the individuals who may have worn them in the past.' It also opens the likelihood of bigger discoveries later. 'The anaerobic preservation here has generally been pretty good, which is really promising for our future excavations,' she said. 'When we move inside the fort, we will have surviving timber buildings.'
Magna—also known as Carvoran—was at the edge of the Whin Sill on Hadrian's Wall, part of a series of Roman forts in Britain. Experts believe this site could have been a fort since 85 A.D., before the start of the wall's construction in 122 A.D.
'It's always exciting to find anything that hasn't been touched for 2,000 years but a shoe is such a personal item,' a volunteer on the project said, according to Frame. 'It really puts you in touch with the people who used to live at the fort. Getting wet and muddy and digging in the wet is just a bonus.'
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Boston Globe
13 hours ago
- Boston Globe
At 100, this globetrotting Catholic priest still bakes pies, enjoys opera and celebrates daily Mass
'The Lord was wonderful to me to give me the health and the strength and the energy to travel, to meet beautiful things — God was always giving me surprises,' Kelly says. Advertisement Born on Jan. 7, 1925, in the Philadelphia neighborhood of Roxborough to a devoutly Catholic family, Kelly's path to the priesthood seems ordained from the start. He loved attending church. Other children dreamt of becoming athletes, doctors, firefighters. He wanted to be a priest. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'When I was 4 or 5 years old, I'd play Mass,' he says, laughing, as he recalls that his parents were his first congregants. 'I always had a little altar in my room, and I'd have a glass, and some flowers in there, and I'd make a vestment, put a scarf on, and have some candy, and give Communion to everybody.' Kelly wakes up at dawn to celebrate Mass at the retirement living community that he now calls home. He listens to opera. He bakes pies. Advertisement Sitting in his room, Kelly flips through a photo album detailing his journey. He smiles with every page turn, pointing to black-and-white photos of him as a toddler and milestones as a Catholic — his baptism, confirmation and ordination as a priest. 'I turned down Hollywood!' he says, laughing as he points to the portrait of a dapper, young priest, his hair slicked and flashing a wide smile. He also points to the photo published by a Philadelphia newspaper of the time when he climbed in his Roman collar to the top of a bridge and dissuaded a man from jumping to his death. 'Nobody would climb there, so I climbed up — it was 400 feet high. It was a bitter cold day,' he says. 'I was able to talk to him and break him down emotionally, so he wouldn't jump. I told him, 'What's your grandchild going to say one day: Papa, why didn't you take me fishing?'' He points to other photos of the many ceremonies he proudly led during his 19 years as pastor of Saint Pius X Parish in Broomall, Pennsylvania, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) west of Philadelphia. There are images of him during a vacation in Mexico when he made a parachute jump. Or that one time, when he visited the majestic Iguazu Falls on the border between Argentina and Brazil, which he recalls as one of the most beautiful sights of his life. 'Everywhere you turned, there was a rainbow, there was a mist … the water gushing forth and spray and the colors," he says. 'It was, as the kids would say, awesome.' Imagination, he says, is one of his favorite words, recalling that he wrote his college thesis on it. 'Jesus used his imagination to teach,' he says, in what became an example when he prepared his own sermons. Advertisement He treasures other memories, such as traveling to more than 100 countries and meeting Saint Teresa of Kolkata, also known as Mother Theresa. Kelly says the two became friends over the years after meeting in Philadelphia and running into each other at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. The centenarian also shared the time when he took a group of blind children to a live performance of his friend, acclaimed soprano Joan Sutherland. 'I've been fortunate to meet some of the most magnificent, good people in this world, and they've been most generous and gracious to me,' Kelly says. These days, he enjoys simple pleasures: the taste of cherries, a beautiful song, or his favorite meal — roast chicken with mashed potatoes, fresh string beans, and corn on the cob. He loves learning and often attends lectures on music, art history and Egyptology at the Normandy Farms Estates retirement community where he resides in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. His apartment is decorated with a painting of the Virgin Mary that he drew with chalk, a portrait of his mother, and a note signed by the late Pope Francis. On his bedside table, he keeps an image of Carlo Acutis, the Catholic Church's first millennial-era saint. Kelly is inspired by Acutis, who died at 15 in 2006. Especially Acutis' devotion and how he used his computer skills to create an online exhibit about scores of eucharistic miracles recognized by the church over centuries. Every morning, he wakes up without the need of an alarm clock and says the same prayer: 'Lord, what surprise do you have for me today?' Advertisement 'I hope it'll be a nice one that I'll love and enjoy. I never know, but I want to thank you for whatever happens today.' After a cup of coffee, he celebrates Mass in his apartment for a few residents of his community. 'When I moved here, I never thought I was going to have a private chapel!' Kathleen Quigley, a retired nurse, quipped after a recent service. 'I just love my faith, and he's such a stronghold of faith that it's wonderful for me to have. I just come right downstairs, have Mass, we talk, he shares his food.' Kelly once ministered to large congregations, but he feels the daily Mass in his living room is as important. 'It's not in a beautiful chapel or church. But it's here that I can offer my love and efforts to the Heavenly Father,' he says. After the final prayer, he always remembers to be grateful. 'That's all I can say — two words: thank you. It's wonderful that I have another day, and I might be able to eat some delicious cherries today, and meet people, new friends," he says. 'God knows what surprises I'll encounter today.' His secret to longevity? 'I drink lots of milk,' he says, laughing. 'And I say lots of prayers.'
New York Post
16 hours ago
- New York Post
Catholic priest still bakes pies, enjoys opera and performs daily Mass at age 100: ‘The Lord was wonderful to me'
Throughout his remarkable lifetime, the Rev. James Kelly has baptized thousands of people, married thousands more, ministered to the sick in hospitals, and traveled the world extensively. He became friends with an opera superstar and, yes, even with a saint. The longest-serving priest in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia recently celebrated the 75th anniversary of his ordination and his 100th birthday. He's grateful to have reached these milestones, but nearly didn't after experiencing a health challenge last year that required life-saving surgery. He feels God gave him some extra time and tries to make each day count. 7 Rev. James Kelly, the longest-serving priest in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, recently celebrated the 75th anniversary of his ordination and his 100th birthday. AP 'The Lord was wonderful to me to give me the health and the strength and the energy to travel, to meet beautiful things — God was always giving me surprises,' Kelly says. Born on Jan. 7, 1925, in the Philadelphia neighborhood of Roxborough to a devoutly Catholic family, Kelly's path to the priesthood seems ordained from the start. He loved attending church. Other children dreamt of becoming athletes, doctors, or firefighters. He wanted to be a priest. 'When I was 4 or 5 years old, I'd play Mass,' he says, laughing, as he recalls that his parents were his first congregants. 'I always had a little altar in my room, and I'd have a glass, and some flowers in there, and I'd make a vestment, put a scarf on, and have some candy, and give Communion to everybody.' Kelly wakes up at dawn to celebrate Mass at the retirement living community that he now calls home. He listens to opera. He bakes pies. 7 Kelly was born on Jan. 7, 1925, in the Philadelphia neighborhood of Roxborough to a devoutly Catholic family. AP Memories, parachute jumps, and climbing a bridge to save a life Sitting in his room, Kelly flips through a photo album detailing his journey. He smiles with every page turn, pointing to black-and-white photos of him as a toddler and milestones as a Catholic — his baptism, confirmation, and ordination as a priest. 'I turned down Hollywood!' he says, laughing as he points to the portrait of a dapper, young priest, his hair slicked and flashing a wide smile. He also points to the photo published by a Philadelphia newspaper of the time when he climbed in his Roman collar to the top of a bridge and dissuaded a man from jumping to his death. 7 'I turned down Hollywood!' Kelly says, laughing as he points to the portrait of a dapper, young priest, his hair slicked and flashing a wide smile. AP 'Nobody would climb there, so I climbed up — it was 400 feet high. It was a bitter cold day,' he says. 'I was able to talk to him and break him down emotionally, so he wouldn't jump. I told him, 'What's your grandchild going to say one day: Papa, why didn't you take me fishing?'' He points to other photos of the many ceremonies he proudly led during his 19 years as pastor of Saint Pius X Parish in Broomall, Pennsylvania, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) west of Philadelphia. There are images of him during a vacation in Mexico when he made a parachute jump. Or that one time, when he visited the majestic Iguazu Falls on the border between Argentina and Brazil, which he recalls as one of the most beautiful sights of his life. 'Everywhere you turned, there was a rainbow, there was a mist … the water gushing forth and spray and the colors,' he says. 'It was, as the kids would say, awesome.' Imagination, friends and being grateful for the simple pleasures Imagination, he says, is one of his favorite words, recalling that he wrote his college thesis on it. 'Jesus used his imagination to teach,' he says, in what became an example when he prepared his own sermons. 7 Sitting in his room, Kelly flips through a photo album detailing his journey. AP He treasures other memories, such as traveling to more than 100 countries and meeting Saint Teresa of Kolkata, also known as Mother Theresa. Kelly says the two became friends over the years after meeting in Philadelphia and running into each other at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. The centenarian also shared the time when he took a group of blind children to a live performance of his friend, acclaimed soprano Joan Sutherland. 'I've been fortunate to meet some of the most magnificent, good people in this world, and they've been most generous and gracious to me,' Kelly says. These days, he enjoys simple pleasures: the taste of cherries, a beautiful song, or his favorite meal — roast chicken with mashed potatoes, fresh string beans, and corn on the cob. He loves learning and often attends lectures on music, art history and Egyptology at the Normandy Farms Estates retirement community where he resides in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. 7 'I've been fortunate to meet some of the most magnificent, good people in this world, and they've been most generous and gracious to me,' Kelly says. AP His apartment is decorated with a painting of the Virgin Mary that he drew with chalk, a portrait of his mother, and a note signed by the late Pope Francis. On his bedside table, he keeps an image of Carlo Acutis, the Catholic Church's first millennial-era saint. Kelly is inspired by Acutis, who died at 15 in 2006. Especially Acutis' devotion and how he used his computer skills to create an online exhibit about scores of eucharistic miracles recognized by the church over centuries. The ritual of a humble daily Mass and the secret to a long life Every morning, he wakes up without the need of an alarm clock and says the same prayer: 'Lord, what surprise do you have for me today?' 7 Kelly's apartment is decorated with a painting of the Virgin Mary that he drew with chalk, a portrait of his mother, and a note signed by the late Pope Francis. AP 'I hope it'll be a nice one that I'll love and enjoy. I never know, but I want to thank you for whatever happens today.' After a cup of coffee, he celebrates Mass in his apartment for a few residents of his community. 'When I moved here, I never thought I was going to have a private chapel!' Kathleen Quigley, a retired nurse, quipped after a recent service. 'I just love my faith, and he's such a stronghold of faith that it's wonderful for me to have. I just come right downstairs, have Mass, we talk, he shares his food.' Kelly once ministered to large congregations, but he feels the daily Mass in his living room is as important. 7 Kelly wakes up at dawn to celebrate Mass at the retirement living community that he now calls home. He listens to opera. He bakes pies. AP 'It's not in a beautiful chapel or church. But it's here that I can offer my love and efforts to the Heavenly Father,' he says. After the final prayer, he always remembers to be grateful. 'That's all I can say — two words: thank you. It's wonderful that I have another day, and I might be able to eat some delicious cherries today, and meet people, new friends,' he says. 'God knows what surprises I'll encounter today.' His secret to longevity? 'I drink lots of milk,' he says, laughing. 'And I say lots of prayers.'
Boston Globe
18 hours ago
- Boston Globe
Food for starving children worldwide is still sitting in a Rhode Island warehouse. It's a case study in DOGE aftermath.
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up But the backlog remains. The nearly 200,000 US government-branded boxes are stuck in North Kingston, and Edesia's founder, Navyn Salem, says she has no idea when—or if—they'll be shipped. Each box can bring one child back from starvation. Advertisement 'What are children supposed to do when we tell them that they need to keep their hearts beating for another six months?' Salem said in an interview. 'Can you imagine if your child dies because you didn't have the equivalent of $1 a day to give them this life-saving food?' Edesia has spent months trying to get answers on a system broken by the Department of Government Efficiency, which Musk formerly ran. And even if the government reversed course tomorrow, it will still take weeks, if not months, to get any of the medicinal food to the children worldwide who need it. Advertisement Edesia's plight has become a case study not only in how quickly DOGE disrupted the federal government, but how long it is taking to undo its mistakes. Despite repeated public statements from top officials that they've resumed the program, deep spending cuts and an overhaul of the foreign aid apparatus have left Edesia in limbo. In the meantime, Edesia and supportive Democratic lawmakers have been trying every avenue — including recruiting Republican colleagues — to correct the issue. Edesia and a similar organization based in Georgia, MANA Nutrition, have for years made a fortified peanut-based paste called to digest regular food. Edesia, named for the Roman goddess of food, says it has fed 25 million children since its opening in 2010. Most of the nonprofit's funding came from USAID. In January, after DOGE decimated USAID, Edesia Eventually, the money came, but now Salem says the product, which is technically owned by the US government, is sitting in her warehouse because the shipping and distribution system that sent the food around the world was run by USAID experts. With the agency's staff essentially terminated and its work set to transition to the State Department as of July 1, Salem has spent weeks contacting anyone in government she can reach through a 'a patchwork of emails and phone calls' to try to get food around the world. Advertisement 'The only thing the government has to do is sign a piece of paper that says, 'It's going to ship here,'' Salem said. 'It's sitting here. It's been paid for by taxpayer dollars. If we're trying to gain efficiencies, we're not being successful, currently.' The State Department denies that it is the hold up, but it did not explain where the breakdown occurred. They referred the Globe to a 'We are proud to continue working with our local partners to deliver life-saving ready-to-use therapeutic food,' a State Department spokesperson said in an unsigned statement. 'As for the warehouse, this is simply stock waiting for pickup, but they aren't waiting on the State Department.' Edesia's cause has been taken up in Washington by Rhode Island lawmakers including Representatives Seth Magaziner and Gabe Amo. Magaziner has given a speech on the House floor every day it is in session since late April to try to bring attention to the issue. He's at 26 and counting. He has been working closely with Republican Georgia Representative Austin Scott, who represents MANA Nutrition, to try to get the administration's attention through a more ideologically friendly messenger. Advertisement 'Every time he talks to the administration they say the right thing and then a few weeks go by and nothing has changed,' Magaziner told the Globe. 'The damage that was done by Elon Musk in just a couple months is going to take a long time to undo. … Irrespective of whether he found any actual waste or not, a lot of good programs were hurt in the meantime and no doubt many innocent lives were lost.' Amo, who sits on the committee that oversees the State Department, had a fiery exchange with Rubio last month at a hearing in which Rubio insisted the problem was fixed and denied his agency was the source of any further issues. 'No children are dying on my watch,' Rubio told Amo as he asked about the boxes in Edesia's warehouse. 'That food is being distributed now.' Calculating the human toll of the delayed food has been difficult, but Amo has been in regular contact with the State Department about Edesia's ordeal. He believes the administration staff are trying to resolve the problems but failed to understand the complexity of the network. USAID's systems were for not just paying for the RUTF, but they also were also identifying where it was needed and distributing it in dangerous and impoverished parts of the world. Advertisement 'It's a little bit of Whac-A-Mole,' Amo said. 'You have an interlocking set of contracts and agreements that can be upset when you make arbitrary decisions that don't see the whole enterprise of how this moves from farm to human being.' Scott, the Georgia Republican working with Magaziner, defended the administration's mission of identifying waste and said he's confident the issues with MANA Nutrition and Edesia will be resolved. 'If you read the book on Elon Musk, I mean, the way he built his companies is to tear it down to the minimum and then build it back up,' Scott said. 'I would have preferred that we measure twice and cut once, if you will, but ... a lot of things they exposed about where US tax dollars were going, that they shouldn't have been going, needed to be done.' Senator Shelly Moore Capito, a West Virginia Republican who worked to get DOGE cuts in her state and others reversed, said she's helping some Democrats now, but under Democratic administrations, they've also had to help her. 'I don't think that's so highly unusual,' she said. Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock, a Democrat who has been working to restore shipments and payments to MANA Nutrition, said he has personally spoken with Rubio, a former Senate colleague, and some progress was made as a result. But he feels the administration still doesn't understand the urgency and importance of the situation. 'What we saw was an administration that came in literally with a chainsaw and cutting without knowing or caring what they were cutting,' Warnock said. 'And so now, not only are millions of lives at stake, not only are children literally dying as a result of this, the tragic insult and irony is that they're dying while these products, literally, sit on shelves. Make it make sense.' Advertisement Tal Kopan can be reached at
