World's Oldest Leather Shoe Found

[HauteHippie]

This 5500 year old shoe is in better shape than a few in my closet....

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/06/100609-worlds-oldest-leather-shoe-armenia-science/

Kate Ravilious

for National Geographic News

Published June 9, 2010

A Manolo Blahnik it isn't.

Still, the world's oldest known leather shoe, revealed Wednesday, struck one of the world's best known shoe designers as shockingly au courant. "It is astonishing," Blahnik said via email, "how much this shoe resembles a modern shoe!"

Stuffed with grass, perhaps as an insulator or an early shoe tree, the 5,500-year-old moccasin-like shoe was found exceptionally well preserved

[gtanak]

K, send it o'er here. I'll send it on to HKTan and we can all get nice straps outta it... VINTAGE.

[plaifender]

K, send it o'er here. I'll send it on to HKTan and we can all get nice straps outta it... VINTAGE.

hahahahaha

[gran]

Ok! So when are we gonna get the replica of this?

[krpster]

That thread title just cracked me up Amazing find.

[Katerchen]

@Chief

Amazing... but i wonder where's the right shoe??

Or did they just walk/jump on one leg 5500 years ago?

George

[4000ft]

What an article, making it sound so amazing that a shoe from the past resembles a shoe of today, but over that time feet have changed so dramatically

Author didnt need to get all those quotes from todays fashionistas to make it interesting, the preservation qualities of sheep dung were enough, where can I get some?

[redwatch]

Maybe Nanuq can do one of his vintage treatments on it before HKTan makes a strap out of it.

[Nanuq]

Hmmmmm, so THAT'S where I left it. Think they'd send it back if I asked nicely? It gets old hopping around on one foot.

Kids nowdays complain about the weakest things, so I point out that it hasn't always been this cushy. When *I* was young we didn't have our mommy to drive us to school, no sir. We walked. And it wasn't some pathetic little one-mile jaunt, it was ten miles to school and 15 miles back home, and uphill both ways. And we did this after the morning chores. Mine was to milk the moose. Did we have a bucket? Sheer luxury! Of course not, we used a spoon to capture the milk, and walked it from the shed to the house, 1/4 mile away through waist deep snow. And we were grateful for the spoon. Our poor neighbors next door used a tiny moose turd receptacle fashioned by smashing a thumb into a turd held in the palm of their hand. Their morning cereal always had a peculiar aroma. Of course we didn't use much milk on our cereal, it was too hard to come by. So we used sea water instead. Not having a bucket, we would walk to the ocean and stand in the surf until our pockets filled with water, herring were an occasional treat. Then we would wait on shore for it to freeze before walking back home. Uphill. When the chores were finished we would share the shoe and walk to school, my brother and I. We had just the one shoe so we would trade off and hop. Of course this led to rather advanced wear, as you can see from the picture.

Oh, and don't tell my mother, but this was our good SUNDAY shoe. We always liked the way this one shined in the candlelight.

[TwoTone]

[FxrAndy]

I bet it does not smell as bad as my trainers (sneekers for the americans)after a week of Rehab! i have never swam or rowed so far

[HauteHippie]

Hmmmmm, so THAT'S where I left it. Think they'd send it back if I asked nicely? It gets old hopping around on one foot.

Kids nowdays complain about the weakest things, so I point out that it hasn't always been this cushy. When *I* was young we didn't have our mommy to drive us to school, no sir. We walked. And it wasn't some pathetic little one-mile jaunt, it was ten miles to school and 15 miles back home, and uphill both ways. And we did this after the morning chores. Mine was to milk the moose. Did we have a bucket? Sheer luxury! Of course not, we used a spoon to capture the milk, and walked it from the shed to the house, 1/4 mile away through waist deep snow. And we were grateful for the spoon. Our poor neighbors next door used a tiny moose turd receptacle fashioned by smashing a thumb into a turd held in the palm of their hand. Their morning cereal always had a peculiar aroma. Of course we didn't use much milk on our cereal, it was too hard to come by. So we used sea water instead. Not having a bucket, we would walk to the ocean and stand in the surf until our pockets filled with water, herring were an occasional treat. Then we would wait on shore for it to freeze before walking back home. Uphill. When the chores were finished we would share the shoe and walk to school, my brother and I. We had just the one shoe so we would trade off and hop. Of course this led to rather advanced wear, as you can see from the picture.

Oh, and don't tell my mother, but this was our good SUNDAY shoe. We always liked the way this one shined in the candlelight.

LOL

[redwatch]

[robertk]

Nanuq,LOL. but actually I have a pair in my closet that looks just like that one. I think the cave find was an early florsheim sold under their inaugural brand "tough as [censored]".

[modelizer]

Hmmmmm, so THAT'S where I left it. Think they'd send it back if I asked nicely? It gets old hopping around on one foot.

Kids nowdays complain about the weakest things, so I point out that it hasn't always been this cushy. When *I* was young we didn't have our mommy to drive us to school, no sir. We walked. And it wasn't some pathetic little one-mile jaunt, it was ten miles to school and 15 miles back home, and uphill both ways. And we did this after the morning chores. Mine was to milk the moose. Did we have a bucket? Sheer luxury! Of course not, we used a spoon to capture the milk, and walked it from the shed to the house, 1/4 mile away through waist deep snow. And we were grateful for the spoon. Our poor neighbors next door used a tiny moose turd receptacle fashioned by smashing a thumb into a turd held in the palm of their hand. Their morning cereal always had a peculiar aroma. Of course we didn't use much milk on our cereal, it was too hard to come by. So we used sea water instead. Not having a bucket, we would walk to the ocean and stand in the surf until our pockets filled with water, herring were an occasional treat. Then we would wait on shore for it to freeze before walking back home. Uphill. When the chores were finished we would share the shoe and walk to school, my brother and I. We had just the one shoe so we would trade off and hop. Of course this led to rather advanced wear, as you can see from the picture.

Oh, and don't tell my mother, but this was our good SUNDAY shoe. We always liked the way this one shined in the candlelight.

[dluddy]

I think Bergies carries them

[modelizer]

This thread cranks me up! Thanks for the late night comedy lads! This should be pinned..

[Katerchen]

...So we used sea water instead. Not having a bucket, we would walk to the ocean and stand in the surf until our pockets filled with water, herring were an occasional treat. Then we would wait on shore for it to freeze before walking back home. Uphill.

LOLZ @Nanuq

The best thing is... reading for a moment i really thought you werent kidding

i often heard stories of my father, washing himself with his brothers every morning

in the sea because in the fishing village he came from in greece because they didnt

have freshwater every day there! But i guess temperatures around there were

never near freezing point - so no chance waiting on the shore for it to freeze

in your pockets

lol

George