Biological Profile Estimation Based on Footprints and Shoeprints from Bracara Augusta Figlinae (Brick Workshops)

Abstract

Biological profile estimation is an important task of biological and forensic anthropologists. This includes sex, age, ancestry, and body morphology. In bioarchaeology, the biological profile is useful to analyze paleodemography, secular trends, paleopathology, and genetic processes, for example. Foot dimensions, footprints, and shoeprints can vary according to stature, age, sex, and body weight. The objective is to estimate these parameters in possible laterarii (brickworkers) from five footprints and seven shoeprints found in Roman bricks from Bracara Augusta. Estimation methods were applied to footprint and shoeprint measurements concerning foot length, foot breath, heel breadth, and length from heel to each finger. Three non-adult individuals were aged 1 to 4/5 years and were between 79.7 and 112.5 cm (±7.7 cm) tall. Five adults were likely female individuals, with statures between 144.2 and 159.9 cm. Methods were selected from samples preferably biologically similar to Portuguese people. This pioneer analysis provides biological insight on the Bracara Augusta laterarii and the population inhabiting Northwestern Iberia during Roman times. As a result of taphonomic constraints (cremation, soil acidity, and humidity), coeval osteological materials are hardly recovered, which further increases the relevance of this approach. Future research on methods based on Portuguese foot dimensions is essential.

The Architectural Terracotta Marks of Bracara Augusta (Braga, Portugal): A First Typology Classification

“…These include a female sandal mark and a female footprint from the archaeological zone of the domus of Ex Albergue Distrital, and Misericórdia necropolis, respectively (Figure 8). Both of these marks were identified in a previous investigation [40], suggesting the presence of children and women in the workshops, who could also have been potters. An animal footprint (6.2 × 6.94 cm), possibly belonging to a small dog, was also identified on a brick that formalizes the hypocaust area of the thermae of Alto da Cividade.…”

Deep Learning Analysis and Age Prediction from Shoeprints

“…This may indicate that age-related features are mostly reflected in the asymmetric differences between left and right shoeprints. ShoeNet adapts a deep convolutional neural network [61], [62] featuring extraction, and its architecture is designed to retain the pressure distribution varying with biological traits pertinent to aging, as well as the distribution differences between L&R shoeprints. Another challenge of this study is a lack of consistent textual-outsole patterns in shoeprints with diverse types of shoes.…”