from the try-getting-a-'leaner'-with-one-of-those dept.
Alex Meyer continues to be in awe of the treasure trove that is Vindolanda.
For years, the former Roman auxiliary fort, located just south of Hadrian's Wall in northern England, has yielded a number of finds unique to the site and to the former empire. To date, excavations have yielded well-preserved artefacts such as ink tablets, shoes, combs, swords and textiles.
Meyer, a Roman historian and Classical Studies professor at Western, was recently part of a team that unearthed four early Roman hipposandals – shoes worn by horses – at Vindolanda.
"The most interesting thing about this is we found all four of the hipposandals. It's rare and remarkable to find one, but to find all four, deposited like this, is really cool. I've seen one other set of four in all my days," Meyer said.
[...] Vindolanda, a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site, which housed some of the most famous documents of the Roman world, has been a location of study for Classical Studies students since 2012, when Western's Field School at Vindolanda was developed by professors Meyer and Elizabeth Greene, a Roman archeologist. Over the years, the pair has acted as supervisors for excavations and volunteer programs at the fort. The school provides training in field excavation, archaeology and history of Roman Britain for students through excavations and the first-hand study of Roman artefacts unearthed at the site.
It is believed that Romans did not use actual horseshoes, which are nailed into the hoof of the horse, Meyer explained. The unearthed hipposandals are more like actual shoes, resembling "soup ladles," which would wrap around the sole of a horse's foot.
[...] "This shows that the use of hipposandals is not just isolated to rocky terrain in the mountains where horses' feet would have to be protected, but in Vindolanda, where there is little rock and lots of grass fields, there is still a use for hipposandals."
(Score: 2) by Bot on Thursday August 16 2018, @12:11PM (3 children)
All Hollywood films and documentaries about Roman horses with no shoes must be redone now :S
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(Score: 2) by coolgopher on Thursday August 16 2018, @12:47PM
Hur hur hur... very funny. ;)
(Score: 2) by riT-k0MA on Thursday August 16 2018, @02:35PM
Only if they're showing footage of a horse being taken to the battlefield.
The shoes were used to reduce wear on horse hooves while being transported. They'd be removed before battle.
(Score: 2) by arslan on Thursday August 16 2018, @11:40PM
If they can mustachio-off Superman in Justice League without re-shoots, I'm sure they can add hipposandals to them Roman horsies in their next blu-ray special director's cut unrated awesome extended digital edition
(Score: 2) by requerdanos on Thursday August 16 2018, @03:30PM (2 children)
As I understand it, these are a type of 'shoes' that have been worn by 'horses' in 'the past'. In what 'sense' they need 'extra orthography' i missed out on.
(Score: 2) by darkfeline on Thursday August 16 2018, @08:01PM (1 child)
Horse shoes are pieces of metal nailed to the horse's hooves. These shoes are worn over the horse's hooves, like human shoes. Thus, these are horse "shoes", or hipposandals if you prefer.
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(Score: 2) by requerdanos on Thursday August 16 2018, @08:46PM
Thanks for trying to help, but those pieces of metal are almost universally called horseshoes [duckduckgo.com] (one word).
Horse Shoes is a fairly generic phrase which can refer to the different shoes potentially worn by a horse, which these hipposandals certainly are an example of.
Your explanation would make perfect sense if the researchers had commented upon remarkable 'horseshoes', but that isn't the case.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday August 16 2018, @03:41PM (1 child)
That would allow for greater flexibility. A horse could have multiple shoes. A pair for battle, and a different pair for going out in the evening. A closet with over three thousand pairs.
And don't criticize a Roman soldier over the color of his horse's shoes.
Citizen: hey a real manly-man soldier doesn't have a horse with pink shoes!
Soldier: that is an outrageous lie and if you repeat it I'll be forced to use harsh language. They're not pink! They're fuschia.
The people who rely on government handouts and refuse to work should be kicked out of congress.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday August 16 2018, @06:59PM
I'm sure that the regulations called for sound-deafening shoes in the Rome arteries, but you'd find plenty of assholes going to party with their Hooves-8 (that's two horses) and chrome shoes designed for max rumbling.
(Score: 2) by archfeld on Thursday August 16 2018, @11:10PM
We've had reports that Roman horses wore Greek shoes. Signature Nike Victoria hipposandals soon available on Amazon.
http://www.greek-gods-and-goddesses.com/nike-goddess-of-victory.html [greek-gods-and-goddesses.com]
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