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A perfectly preserved, 5,500-year-old shoe was discovered in a cave in Armenia by team that included UCLA archaeologists.
A perfectly preserved, 5,500-year-old shoe was discovered in a cave in Armenia by team that included UCLA archaeologists.
Believed to be the oldest leather shoe ever discovered, the find dates back to around 3,500 B.C. and was announced today (June 9) in the online scientific journal PLoS ONE.
"Generally, organic materials are poorly preserved in Middle Eastern archaeological sites because of the high content of salts and fungi in the soil and dramatic fluctuations in the temperatures and humidity in the weather," said Gregory Areshian, a visiting associate professor at the Cotsen who was nearby when the discovery was made. "But the condition of this shoe is amazing."
Made of a single piece of cowhide, the shoe was shaped to fit the wearer's foot and was stuffed with grass. Archaeologists aren't sure whether the grass was used as insulation or - as a possible precursor to the modern shoe tree - to maintain the shape of the shoe. They also don't know whether the shoe - the equivalent of a European size 37 or an American women's size 7 - belonged to a male or female.
