# Romans carefully dismantled statue of emperor when they withdrew from Scotland 1,800 years ago, leaving only his foot behind

Source: [Latest from Live Science in Archaeology](https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/romans/romans-carefully-dismantled-statue-of-emperor-when-they-withdrew-from-scotland-1-800-years-ago-leaving-only-his-foot-behind) · 2026-11-13 · Life
Page: https://themorning.science/story/romans-carefully-dismantled-statue-of-emperor-when-they-withdrew-from-scotland-1-36d9db06ce56670d
Kind: research · Impact: low

## In brief

- Only a lower right leg survives from a larger-than-life statue of Roman emperor Antoninus Pius that once stood in Scotland.
- Experts have reconstructed what the entire sculpture looked like.
- The Romans carefully dismantled the statue when they withdrew from Scotland about 1,800 years ago, and the reason is still unclear.

## Why it matters

The study shows how Roman forces may have handled imperial monuments when they gave up a frontier region, and it offers a reconstruction of a lost sculpture from Roman Scotland.

## Coverage

- [Romans carefully dismantled statue of emperor when they withdrew from Scotland 1,800 years ago, leaving only his foot behind](https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/romans/romans-carefully-dismantled-statue-of-emperor-when-they-withdrew-from-scotland-1-800-years-ago-leaving-only-his-foot-behind) — Latest from Live Science in Archaeology, 2026-11-13

Tags: roman-empire, archaeology, scotland, sculpture, antoninus-pius

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Brief generated by AI (claude-haiku-5-5) from the reporting listed under Coverage. Headlines belong to their publishers. The Morning Science – https://themorning.science