The world's oldest shoe dating back 5,500 years has been discovered! (check the fashion out)

Designed for function rather than fashion, a lace-up moccasin complete with straw padding is the world's oldest shoe ever discovered.

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The grass filled shoe was found in a cave in the Vayotz Dzor province of Armenia close to the Iranian border Photo: REUTERS

A woman's size four, it was made from a single piece of cured cowhide a thousand years before the Great Pyramid of Giza was built – and four hundred years earlier than the erection of Stonehenge. Amazingly, it is still in perfect condition – even including the laces – thanks to the stable, cool and dry conditions of the Armenian cave in which it was found. It would have fitted the foot of a woman today – although it may have been worn by a mann at the time, claim the researchers. The shoe was packed with grass, but it is unclear whether this was to keep the foot warm or to maintain the shape of the shoe, much like the modern shoe-tree.

Dr Ron Pinhasi, an archaeologist at the University College Cork, said: "It is an amazing find. We thought we were looking at something just a few hundred years old but it turns out to be oldest shoe ever found."

Other items discovered in the cave in the Vayotz Dzor province on the Iranian border included large containers, many of which held well-preserved wheat and barley, apricots and other edible plants. The floor was covered by a thick layer of sheep dung which acted as a solid seal over the objects, keeping them beautifully over thousands of years.

Dr Pinhasi, said: "It was only when the material was dated by the two radiocarbon laboratories in Oxford and California that we realised that the shoe was older by a few hundred years than the shoes worn by Otzi, the Iceman." Otzi lived about 5,300 years ago and his mummified remains were found in 1991 in the Otztal Alps, on the border between Austria and Italy.

For the latest discovery, found under a pot, the archaeologists cut two small strips of leather from it and sent one to Oxford University and the other to the University of California. A piece of grass from the shoe was also sent to Oxford to be dated and both shoe and grass were shown to be the same age.

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk...


Okay, here is my problem. Great they found this shoe but it only creates more questions for me.

Is this shoe the oldest ever (even that we haven't found yet?). I am torn between the evolution/creation & Aliens creation of humans. Then you toss into the mix the whole concept that humans existed up to 10,000, 20,000, 40,000 & even millions years ago.

The problem is that we only find stuff like the show dating back to about 4-5000 B.C. Well, if there were other civilizations, why didn't those people who wore the found shoe get all worked up about it. They didn't mark, or retrieve or emulate anything-that I can think of. Maybe the Pyramids (not the Giza ones) was the attempts of the current residents to make or celebrate the true Pyramids of Giza.

I got lost in my thought train but I hope I make sence. I guess there isn't enough pieces of the puzzle found yet.

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I found this picture-looking out from the same cave. Those cave dwellers picked a nice one by the looks of it. I wonder whatelse might be underneath that mountain!








[edit on 6/10/2010 by anon72]

I've seen other news sources that said it is the oldest leather shoe, not necessarily the oldest shoe found, which was made by a material other than leather.

must be the oldest LEATHER shoe:

older grass shoes

just an aside
the courier de bois (Metis voyagers) in Canada used purple blackberry leaves in their leather shoes to protect their feet.

I think it protected the leather too, so it didn't wear and become abrasive
and it protected the feat by prolly reducing sweat

just an aside

I like ancient tech
we don't make shoes that last that long today I bet