Fibre sandals (footwear)
Calzado: sandalias de fibra vegetal
- Date
- c. 8300 BCE · confidence high
- Place
- Fort Rock Cave, Oregon, United States
- Credited to
- Great Basin hunter-gatherers
- Field
- Tools
What it is
Plaited sandals made from sagebrush bark, the oldest preserved footwear. They protect the foot and allow travel across abrasive, hot terrain that Palaeolithic sewn hides did not cover well.
Leather footwear is older (footprints and foot deformations from the Palaeolithic), but it does not survive.
What it led to
- Greater mobility and gathering range across deserts and lava fields
- Transfer of basketry technique to clothing
- An esparto footwear tradition that reappears in Europe (Cueva de los Murciélagos, c. 4000 BCE)
Built on
- Matting and basketryc. 7000 BCE
- Basketry and plaiting
- Upper Palaeolithic leather footwear (inferred)
Made possible
- Stitched leather shoe (Areni-1, c. 3500 BC)
- Espadrille