Tanning
Although it's often difficult for archaeologists to find evidence of tanning, lots of leather shoes were found in a tannage pit at Lullingstone Roman Villa. Tanning is when animal skins are treated with chemicals to make leather. The large-scale processing of hides into leather might have been an important new technique of the Roman period.
What was tanning like in Roman Britain?
Tanning probably happened outside of big towns because of the unpleasant smell given off during the tanning process. This involved immersing animal hides to loosen hair and treat the skin. We don't know exactly how the Romans did this, but in the Middle Ages urine, wood ash and lime were used.
Sometimes our evidence of tanning is the iron tools that were used or we find pits or tanks which the skins would have been soaked in. We can also find cut marks left on animal bones from skinning. Leather objects like the shoes found at Lullingstone do not often survive. Finding evidence of leather production is not very common at villa sites.