What may have been the oldest pair of shoes in Europe was discovered in a cave in Spain and is now believed to be much older than scientists previously thought.
According to a new study by scientists, around 20 pairs of sandals are at least 6,200 years old, and possibly older, while other woven objects in the cave date back 9,500 years.
The shoes measured around 20.5cm, or a little over 8 inches.
The news emerged after scientists used carbon dating of 76 objects from Cueva de los Murciélagos, Albuñol, near Granada, which had been excavated by miners in the 19th century.
Among the objects are baskets that represent the first direct evidence of this skill in Mesolithic hunter-gatherer societies in southern Europe.
The objects, made of wood, reeds and esparto grass, date from the early and middle Holocene period, between 9,500 and 6,200 years ago, the scientists said.
The study on the findings of the University of Alcalá (UAH) and the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) is published in the journal Science Advances.
According to Francisco Martínez Sevilla, researcher at the Department of Prehistory at the UAH, “it is the oldest and largest set of prehistoric footwear, both in the Iberian Peninsula and in Europe, unparalleled in other latitudes,” according to SWNS, the service British news. , he reported.
About 20 pairs of sandals are at least 6,200 years old and possibly older than other woven objects in the cave that date back 9,500 years. MUTERMUR / SWNS Project The baskets represent the first direct evidence of this ability in Mesolithic hunter-gatherer societies in southern Europe. .MUTERMUR / SWNS project
“The new dating of the esparto baskets from the Bat Cave of Albuñol opens a window of opportunity to understand the last hunter-gatherer societies of the early Holocene.”
He added: “The quality and technological complexity of basketry make us question the simplistic assumptions we had about human communities before the arrival of agriculture in southern Europe.”
He said that the work and the project that is being developed “[place] “The Bat Cave as a unique site in Europe to study the organic materials of prehistoric populations.”
The Cueva de los Murciélagos, or “Cave of the Bats”, is located on the coast of Granada, south of the Sierra Nevada.
It is believed that the finds were well preserved thanks to the low levels of humidity in the area.
Interior of the Cueva de los Murciélagos de Albuñol or “Cave of the Bats”, is located on the coast of Granada, south of the Sierra Nevada. Blas Ramos Rodríguez / SWNS
The bat cave opens on the right side of the Barranco de las Angosturas, at an altitude of 450 meters above sea level and about seven kilometers from the current coastline.
It is one of the most emblematic prehistoric archaeological sites in the Iberian Peninsula due to the rare preservation of organic materials, SWNS also said.
Study co-author María Herrero Otal said: “The esparto objects from the Bat Cave are the oldest and best-preserved set of plant fiber materials known so far in southern Europe,” as SWNS also noted.
“The technological diversity and the treatment of the documented raw materials demonstrates the capacity of prehistoric communities to master this type of craftsmanship, at least since 9,500 years ago, in the Mesolithic period.”
And he adds: “Only one type of technique related to hunter-gatherers has been identified, while the typological, technological and treatment range of esparto grass expanded during the Neolithic, from 7,200 to 6,200 years before the present.”
Artistic recreation of the use of Mesolithic baskets by a group of hunter-gatherers in the Bat Cave of Albuñol. SWNS
He also said: “The technological diversity and treatment of raw materials documented highlights the skill of prehistoric communities,” as the BBC reported on the study’s findings.
A 5,500-year-old pair of leather shoes was discovered in a cave in Armenia in 2008, while the oldest in Britain is said to be a 3,000-year-old late Bronze Age child’s shoe in North Kent.
However, the oldest shoe in the world, dating back approximately 10,000 years, was found in Fort Rock, Oregon, back in 1938.
The Fort Rock sandals, as they are known to researchers, are located at the University of Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History in Eugene, according to the Bend Bulletin. They were made from sagebrush bark and other fibers.
The Fort Rock Sandals were found under a layer of volcanic ash from the eruption of Mount Mazama 7,700 years ago, the same source indicated.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn