Cave or Rock Shelter in Armenia. Areni-1 is a large karstic cave that contains archaeological cultural strata spanning from the Neolithic to late medieval times. Between 2007 and 2009, excavations were carried out in the cave. A 5,500 year old shoe, the oldest leather shoe yet found in the world, has been unearthed here by a team of international archaeologists. The cow-hide shoe dates back to ~ 3,500 BC and is in perfect condition. It was made of a single piece of leather and was shaped to fit the wearers foot. It contained grass, although the archaeologists were uncertain as to whether this was to keep the foot warm or to maintain the shape of the shoe, a precursor to the modern shoe-tree perhaps? It is not known whether the shoe belonged to a man or woman, said lead author of the research, Dr Ron Pinhasi, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland as while small (European size 37; US size 7 women), the shoe could well have fitted a man from that era. The cave is situated in the Vayotz Dzor province of Armenia, on the Armenian, Iranian, Nackhichevanian and Turkish borders, and was known to regional archaeologists due to its visibility from the highway below. The stable, cool and dry conditions in the cave resulted in exceptional preservation of the various objects that were found, which included large containers, many of which held well-preserved wheat and barley, apricots and other edible plants. The preservation was also helped by the fact that the floor of the cave was covered by a thick layer of sheep dung which acted as a solid seal over the objects, preserving them beautifully over the millennia! We thought initially that the shoe and other objects were about 600-700 years old because they were in such good condition, said Dr Pinhasi. It was only when the material was dated by the two radiocarbon laboratories in Oxford, UK, and in California, US that we realised that the shoe was older by a few hundred years than the shoes worn by Ötzi, the Iceman.
Posted on: Wed, 28 May 2014 15:18:10 +0000
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