A new find illustrates a very ordinary artifact from the past:  a pair of ancient Roman 'army boots'.  These very shoes gave the Emperor Caligula (literally: "Booties") his name.

Dr. Segal's University of Haifa dig (join the dig!) has discovered the footprint of a Roman soldier at Hippos (Sussita):  http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-08/uoh-asp082607.php 
For Segal's other work, see: From Function to Monument: An Architectural History of the Cities of Roman Palestine, Syria and Arabia.

For more in-depth coverage, see:  http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/objects/pages/PrintArticleEn.jhtml?itemNo=893560  (I looked for an online photo of the Hadrian's Wall footprint and could not find one.)

For a nice discussion with a map and comments from a modern wall builder:   http://tinyurl.com/2tlnr8
More information on the dig site: http://www.findadig.com/Hippos_Sussita 

A nice classical dictionary's discussion of these shoes: http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Caliga.html
(To look up the classical references, see: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cache/perscoll_Greco-Roman.html#text1 )

An actual one of these sandals:  http://home.comcast.net/~plutarch/caligae.html

How to make your own pair of caligae:  http://www.larp.com/legioxx/caligae.html

Other finds from Hippos (Sussita), including a lintel from a church or synagogue and a digestive amulet:  http://focus.haifa.ac.il/Autumn-2005/03-sussita.htm

(For those not familiar with their Classics http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Caligula*.html I've always thought the Babylon 5 character Cartagia was based on him, I'm not alone in this comparison.)

-Kushana