Ancient Shoes

[maximus otter]

Stuffed with grass, perhaps as an insulator or an early shoe tree, the 5,500-year-old moccasin-like shoe was found exceptionally well preserved—thanks to a surfeit of sheep dung—during a recent dig in an Armenian cave.

About as big as a current women's size seven (U.S.), the shoe was likely tailor-made for the right foot of its owner, who could have been a man or a woman—not enough is known about Armenian feet of the era to say for sure.

Made from a single piece of cowhide—a technique that draws premium prices for modern shoes under the designation "whole cut"—the shoe is laced along seams at the front and back, with a leather cord.

"The hide had been cut into two layers and tanned, which was probably quite a new technology," explained Ron Pinhasi, co-director of the dig, from University College Cork in Ireland.

Yvette Worrall, a shoemaker for the Conker handmade-shoe company in the U.K., added, "I'd imagine the leather was wetted first and then cut and fitted around the foot, using the foot as a last [mold] to stitch it up there and then."

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/100609-worlds-oldest-leather-shoe-armenia-science

maximus otter

 

[Who me]

Hmm looks like one of my training shoes

 

[maximus otter]

Scientists have identified what they believe are the oldest shoes ever found in Europe – a pair of intricately-woven sandals made of grass that dates back more than 6,000 years.

They were found in the 200ft-deep Cueva de los Murciélagos, known in English as the Cave of the Bats, when miners started excavating nitrogen-rich bat guano or droppings in the 19th century.

A mallet made of olive wood and two sandals

They were preserved thanks to the very low humidity levels inside the cave.

The items, which included cylindrical baskets, were all made from a fibre called esparto grass. It is used to this day in Spain to make baskets and hats.

A collection of 76 surviving artefacts has now been analysed by Spanish scientists, who found that the espadrille-type sandals are around 6,000 years old, making them the oldest shoes ever found in Europe.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/europe-s-oldest-shoes-found-in-spanish-cave/ar-AA1hpGoI#image=1

maximus otter