The shoe was excavated by archeologists in the western village of Dürrnberg, where rock salt mining took place from as early as the Iron Age, it said in a recent press release.
The salt, which is particularly good at preserving organic remains, is thought to have kept the shoe in extremely good condition.
“Our research activities at Dürrnberg have been providing us with valuable finds for decades in order to scientifically explore the earliest mining activities. The condition of the shoe found is outstanding,” Professor Thomas Stoellner, head of the Research Department at the German Mining Museum, said in the press release.
Archeologists discovered the shoe among other organic remains, including a fragment of a wooden shovel blade, as well as remains of fur with lacing that might have come from a fur hood.
The remnants of the shoe’s lacing found preserved were likely made of flax or linen, according to the release.
Finding a child’s shoe is “always something special,” because it shows that children were present underground, the museum said.
