these loops may be seen in Plate XIX., Fig. 16. The loops may have been brought together by leather laces, but it is also possible that they may have been fastened, like a modern frogged coat, by a button attached to a thong.
Several objects which seemed designed for the purpose just indicated were among the miscellaneous finds. One of these came from Pit LXV. It is made of horn and is shaped like a double button (Plate LXXVII., Fig. 16). The narrow neck between the two portions is exactly such as would be convenient for the attachment of a cord. It measures one and a quarter inches in length, and is quite flat on the back. Analogous objects in bronze are illustrated in Plate LXXXII., Figs. 6 and 8. A specimen in bone, which resembles Fig. 8, is preserved in the Blackgate Museum, Newcastle-on-Tyne. It appears to have been found with Romano-British antiquities, while another specimen considerably ruder in execution was recently discovered in a cave near Dirleton, in the County of Haddington.[1] A different type of button is probably represented by two articles in bronze which are shown on Plate LXXVII., Figs. 2 and 3. In these there is a hole perforated through the middle for the attachment of the cord. Buttons of the ordinary modern type may also have been to some extent in use. A number were found, but in no case did they come from pits. In Block XIV, however, a well-made specimen occurred at a depth of three feet in association with a denarius of Trajan. It should be added that one piece of leather showed the serrated edging which may be noted on the coats of soldiers on the Trajan column, and that straps and thongs occurred as well as some neatly stitched pockets (Plate XIX., Figs. 2 and 4).
Of all the leather objects, however, the most complete were the specimens of footgear. There were heavy boots for men and women, and tiny shoes for children. The skill of the leather workers as displayed in the variety of their patterns was as striking at Newstead as at Bar Hill. Some of the best preserved specimens are illustrated in Plate XX.
The ordinary footgear of the Roman legionary was the caliga—a sole laced to the foot by an assemblage of light thongs—the toes being exposed. Such shoes are to be seen on the columns of Trajan and of Marcus Aurelius, on the monument of Adamklissi, as well as upon most of the legionary grave slabs. A large number of these caligae were discovered in Mainz in the year 1857, and are now preserved in the Museum there.[2]
1 Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, vol. xliii. p. 251, fig. 5 (3).
2 Die Alterthümer unserer heidnischen Vorzeit, Band iv. Taf. 37, Figs. 1–10.
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