What are the oldest known shoes that exist today?

zbeckabee

In 1938 archaeologist Luther Cressman (from the University of Oregon) excavated at Fort Rock Cave, located in a small volcanic butte approximately half a mile west of the Fort Rock volcanic crater in central Oregon. The Fort Rock Basin is the most northwesterly sub-basin of the Great Basin, Western North America's vast intermontane desert. Cressman found dozens of sandals below a layer of volcanic ash, subsequently determined to come from the eruption of the Mt. Mazama volcano 7500 years ago. Named for the site where they were first found, Fort Rock-style sandals have since been reported from ancient deposits in several Northern Great Basin caves. MORE: http://www.uoregon.edu/~connolly/FRsandals.htm Mar 08 09, 10:52 PM

star_gazer

Good zbeckabee, and this article tells of some very old shoe soles that were just found in France as well. http://news.aol.com/article/ancient-shoe-soles/374140 Mar 08 09, 11:11 PM

Elvirakitties

It is generally assumed that the oldest human rendering of shoes is in a cave painting in Spain that has been dated by scientists between 14,000 and 17,000 years old. The drawings show a male wearing animal skin boots, and a woman with an animal fur foot covering The oldest footwear known to exist on the Planet Earth were pulled out of Oregon's Fort Rock Cave in 1938 by Archaeologist Luther Cressman. Preserved in volcanic ash, carbon dating of the sage sandals show them to be about 9500 years old. Perhaps the most interesting part of the story is that there were not just a single set of these shoes discovered by Cressman, but in total 75 pairs. The find in Oregon may very likely represent not just the oldest shoes on the planet, but inventory from the oldest known shoe store! Sandals from this discovery are on display in the University of Oregon's Museum of Natural and Cultural History. Other areas of the world have their own claims to ancient footwear. The Mediterranean is generally assumed to give us the very first written works of history, including the story of Mercury and his famed Winged Sandals. 5000 year-old slate tables depict the Egyptian Pharoah wearing sandals assumed to be constructed of papyrus. Examples of these early Egyptian sandals have been recovered and preserved. Chinese footwear is assumed to have been made from plant fibers as long as 7000 years ago, while the earliest Chinese shoes preserved are made of sheep leather and are aged at over 4000 years Mar 09 09, 5:59 AM