Two-thousand-year-old footprints found in the ancient city of Sagalassos

Excavations at the ancient city of Sagalassos, which is on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Tentative List, which began in 1989, are continuing.

The trace left by a spiked shoe on a terracotta tile unique to Sagalassos, one of Rome's five important ceramic production centers, prompted the excavation team to take action.

Belgian archaeologist Prof. Dr. Jeroen Poblome, from the Department of Archaeology at KU Leuven University and a member of the excavation team, stated that the findings at Sagalassos help understand the daily life of the Romans.

Stating that they thought the footprint belonged to a woman, Poblome said:

"This situation reveals that women also wore shoes with spiked soles in ancient times and took an active part in social life."

"This is a rare footprint that we believe belongs to a woman. Thus, the shoe pattern of the period became clear. We have been finding two types of nails in the field for a long time."

"We thought this belonged to a shoe sole. Upon examination of the clay tile, we determined that this footprint belonged to a spiked shoe. The tile was stepped on by a spiked shoe before it had even dried."

"We saw that it left exactly the same mark as the nails we found at the excavation site. It was evidence that these spiked shoes were used in rural Roman life. We think it was a small shoe, around size 37, with a long and thin last."

"We also examined these marks with a microscope. It was clearly seen that the long nails were on the sides of the shoe and the short nails were on the sole. We will redesign the leather shoe from the ancient period."