World’s Oldest Leather Shoe Is Incredibly Well-Preserved

Image credit: Pinhasi R, Gasparian B, Areshian G, Zardaryan D, Smith A, et al.
“The hide had been cut into two layers and tanned, which was probably quite a new technology,” explained Ron Pinhasi from University College Cork in Ireland, lead author of a new study published in the journal PLoS ONE.

Yvette Worrall, a shoemaker for the Conker handmade-shoe company in the U.K., added, “I’d imagine the leather was wetted first and then cut and fitted around the foot, using the foot as a last [mold] to stitch it up there and then.”

Again, the final result looks surprisingly familiar for something so ancient.

“It is astonishing how much this shoe resembles a modern shoe!” Manolo Blahnik, one of the world’s best known shoe designers, told National Geographic.

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