Abalorios de calzado romano en Augusta Emerita?

• Published in: Mélanges de la Casa de Velázquez Vol. 48; no. 1; pp. 217 - 236
• Main Authors: Macarena Bustamante Álvarez, Ana María Bejarano Osorio
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Spanish
• Published: Casa de Velázquez 01.04.2018
• Subjects: burial deposit; footwear; High Roman Empire; mother of pearl
• ISSN: 0076-230X; 2173-1306
• DOI: 10.4000/mcv.8034

Presented here is a burial deposit located in a part of the necropolis of the ancient capital of Lusitania, August Emerita (Mérida, Badajoz province). A contextual and stratigraphic study of the dig has made it possible to date the find in the first century CE. There, in addition to ceramic and metal objects, there was a pair of phytomorphic adornments in mother-of-pearl which we associated with the «eccentric» ornamentation that was developed for footwear in ancient times. In addition to a comprehensive analysis of the find, we took the opportunity to address the question of ancient shoemaking from an archaeological perspective. To that end, as well as running a search for parallels on the items, an iconographic analysis was performed on the larger figures, and textual sources on footwear and adornments therefor were examined.