The 10,000 Year Old Shoes

Ever wondered what the oldest shoe in the world is? No? I'm not surprised, still made a video on it though.

Thanks so much!

Sources:
Aikens, C. Melvin., et al. Oregon Archaeology. Oregon State University Press, 2011.
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Image Atributions:
All footage/images of the artefacts taken by me at the Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History.

Fallschirmjäger, Lake bonneville map, CC BY-SA 3.0
Didier Descouens, Coelodonta antiquitatis , CC BY-SA 4.0
WolfmanSF, Camelops hesternus, CC BY-SA 3.0
WolfmanSF, Columbian mammoth, CC BY-SA 3.0
Daniel D'Auria from Southern New Jersey, USA, Branta canadensis -near Oceanville, New Jersey, USA -flying-8, CC BY-SA 2.0
John Atherton, University of Oregon archaeological excavations at Fort Rock Cave, Oregon (USA), 1966, CC BY-SA 2.0

[doctorpicardnononono]

so many one legged people back then, tragic.

[gelgamath_]

Drinking excessive amounts of beer might be an English ritual that dates back to the Stone age

[StefanMilo]

An Old Shoe Haiku:

Intertwined Sagebrush
found with 10, 000 rabbits
stone age comes to life

Thanks for watching!

[sneeringimperialist]

Those shoes held up better than the ones I bought from Walmart.

[derpmcgerp]

*Ancient Oregon has entered the chat*
*Adidas has left the chat*
*Nike has left the chat*
*Sketchers has left the chat*
*Ancient Oregon promoted to admin*

[TheLacedaemonian]

I think it's pretty obvious what happened here; a new company came to town with their brand new, badass kicks called the 'Sagebrush Airs', and totally took over the market. Probably because this new shoe could make one run faster and jump higher, and the chicks just dig a man with Airs. The dead rabbits were a symbolic representation of the death of the previous shoe company that used a rabbit as its logo, how lame. Mystery solved!

[maisondusuave]

The 2nd style appears to be adjustable and protects the heel. Better design. Could have come from outsiders, or just someone really fed up with their shoes falling of when they run.

[Thxsober]

What really amazing and what Stefan forgot to mention, is that the pair of 9, 000-year-old shoes were found hanging from the wires of a 9, 000-year-old utility pole.

[elikithompson]

I live in Oregon and as I have been researching this topic and these shoes it hit me. The native cultures here seemed to persist relatively unchanged while other massive cultures all over the world rose and fell. South American, Egyptian, Roman, Mexican and Mayan. They wove nearly the same baskets and wore the same sandals for 9, 000 years. Ponderous.

[himssendol]

I’ve always thought throwing coins into fountains for good luck had to have some relation with stone age water offerings of bronze daggers and stuff.

[Kirindor]

Thanks for the video. I agree that your channel needs many more subscribers. I like the focus on the mundane, common elements of life.

These ancient shoes represent a tremendous amount of labor. All of the fiber for the cordage had to be sourced and then twisted before being woven. I have made shoes similar to these. In mine I found that the sole of the shoes couldn't extend under the toes because that part would curl under and become a tripping hazard.

Again thanks for the videos.

[pseudo.account]

Lol. "I even made a bloody spear." That strikes me as a very British thing to say

[AmberWavesOfSane]

Stefan, another fantastic video taking a piece of mundane life and bringing it to life with all your humor and curiosity. I loved in one of your videos that you described yourself as "Yes, I 'm THAT level of nerd"! So am I, keep posting for me & all your fellow dedicated nerds.

[Matt_The_Hugenot]

Oldest continuous rituals in Britain, complaining about the weather and how dark it gets in winter.

The oldest craft still practiced I can think of is beadmaking.

[maxb]

This is one of my favorite episodes of yours. I love hearing about our regions here around Oregon. More bangers like this one please!

[CuteCritters]

My hippy friends would rock those now.
Ok I mean me.

[matuvarela]

IDK if it count but here in Argentina and Uruguay we use some kind of shoes "alpargatas" that have a sole made of rope. when you step on water with those alpargatas the sole get hard and is almost useless by modern standars, but it is very confy and fresh

[hellboy]

Multiple warp looks better for rumning. Besides, the feet are more protected. I think is just a natural evolution from "kind A", not a "war" situation.

Sorry for my broken english.

[tectosagos]

Excellent, as usual! Very cool to see the seemingly mundane made interesting! You could do a follow up on earliest leather shoes or similar. There's the Armenian (I think) cave find at over 5000 yrs old, and a few others a bit more recent. Also, (can't remember if I've mentioned before) but have a look for the research/books by P.V. Glob, lots of very early fabrics and clothing from mainly European bog finds. Recreations of these finds look amazing.

[IvoTichelaar]

I don't know exactly from which period they were, but I once did a botany field course (biology) around a group of burial mounds in the Northeast of the Netherlands, containing cremated remains. Parts of the mounds have been researched by archeologists. Locals warned them that a certain set of mounds furthest away from the village was bad, haunted and had something to do with unhappy children. The archeologists found remains of children in those mounds. This seems to suggest that some knowledge of the burial mounds has survived for centuries. I think we have been mostly burying our dead since the Romans invaded. So at least 2, 000 years old. It must have survived the great migration and several changes of population. Also, the separate location for the child burials snd the fear of the locals might mean they were located furthest away from the settlement, as they are now.