As any archaeologist knows, very little other than stone can last. In a warm, humid climate, most organic materials such as hemp, fabric, wood, and leather will decompose, leaving nothing but stones and perhaps bones at an archaeological site. This is one reason why the Stone Age got its name, not because everything was made of stone but because most of the stone tools and ornaments still survived and thus mainly the Stone objects represent that time period.
All organic materials such as animal skins worn by Paleolithic or Neolithic peoples have largely disappeared. However, in the right environment, such materials can last for thousands of years. If an environment is dry and undisturbed, perishable materials can often last for millennia. An example of this is a 5,500-year-old leather shoe found in an Armenian cave, one of several other examples of ancient footwear.
Entrance to Areni-1 cave in southern Armenia near the town of Areni. This cave is where the world’s oldest known shoe was found. ( CC BY 3.0 )
Ancient shoes are preserved differently
Two other famous examples of ancient footwear are sandals found in Arnold Research Cave in Missouri and another example in Warriors Cave in the Judaean Desert. The shoes in the Arnold Research Cave are dated to be between 800 and 8,000 years old. The youngest sandals were made of deerskin while the oldest sandals were made from the fibers of a plant called rattlesnake host.
The shoes found in the Warriors’ Cave were also sandals made from leather that were determined to be about 6,000 years old. Leather sandals were found along with a reed mat, a bow with a quiver of arrows and a flint knife, among other items. The Judaean Desert is known for its dry climate, which provides excellent preservation conditions. The desert has also been used for thousands of years by fugitives who hid their belongings in caves and never got them back. Other artifacts found in the Judaean desert include the Dead Sea Scrolls dated between 200 BC and 200 AD and a cache of bronze tools and ornaments dated to ca. 6,000 years old.
A pair of sandals from the Neolithic period in the middle. ( CC BY-SA 3.0 )
It should be noted that the other two ancient shoe samples were not dated directly but were dated by comparison with other artifacts found in the cave. The Armenian shoes were directly dated using radiocarbon dating. Therefore, the antiquity of the Armenian shoe is more certain than the antiquity of other shoes.
Armenian shoes
The 5,500-year-old shoe was discovered by an Armenian graduate student from the Armenian Institute of Archeology, Diana Zandaryan. The shoe was preserved in the cold, dry conditions of the cave and a layer of sheep dung covered it, acting as a weather seal. Along with the shoe, barrels containing wheat, barley and apricots were also discovered. The shoe dates to around 3,500 BC, making it several centuries older than the original floors of Stonehenge, construction of which began in 3,000 BC.
It’s unclear why the shoe or other items were left there. They can be left for storage or hidden there in times of conflict. It is also possible that they were left there as an offering, possibly of a religious nature.
Another question is whether it is worn by men or women. This shoe comes in a small, women’s size by modern European and American standards, however, it could also be worn by a man during this time period.
The oldest known leather shoe, found at the foot of a Stone Age stone pit in Areni-1 cave, Vayots Dzor, Armenia. ( CC BY 2.5 )
The life and times of the shoe
During the time this shoe was in use, the inhabitants of Armenia had been farming for thousands of years, having adopted domesticated varieties from the Levant. It was also around this time that the Kurgan culture, proposed to carry Proto-Indo-European languages, began to move out of their ancestral homeland. Little is known about the Kurgan culture except that they buried their dead in large mounds called kurgans. These mounds are the most visible archaeological feature they left behind, hence the name of the culture.
It is unclear whether the cave dwellers have anything to do with the Kurgan culture, but we do know interesting things about them. The people of modern-day Armenia used domesticated varieties that were common during the Neolithic period, including wheat, barley, and sheep. Armenia was one of the earliest adopters of agriculture and animal husbandry. The archaeological site of Aratashen, inhabited about 8,000 years ago, has revealed many details about Armenia’s Neolithic culture. They lived in adobe houses, grew barley, and had shovels, spoons, and other tools made from wood, bone, and obsidian.
These shoes reveal another side of prehistoric Armenia, which is famous for its relatively rich archaeological record. Ultimately, with enough research, we can learn much more about their culture than what shoes they wore, what they ate, and other aspects of their material culture. We can also learn about non-material aspects of their culture, such as glimpses into how they see the world.
