Photo credit: German Mining Museum Bochum
Posted on 09/08/2023 6:51:55 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
An remarkably well-preserved child's shoe from the Iron Age has been found in Austria.
The discovery was made by archaeologists from the German Mining Museum in Bochum during excavations at Dürrnberg near Hallein, in an area that was mined for rock salt during the Iron Age...
The entire shape of the shoe, as well as string used to fix it onto the child's foot, can still be seen.
It is made of leather and is the equivalent of a child's 12.5 size shoe today...
Shoes dating from the Iron Age have been found before but the child's shoe is of particular significance, the press release reported, because it is evidence that children lived or worked underground during this period.
The design of the shoe indicates to archaeologists that it dates from the 2nd century BC.
In Central and Western Europe the Iron Age is said to have commenced at the beginning of the first millennium BC and ended with the Roman conquests of the 1st century BC. This era was marked by the production of iron tools and weapons, which replaced their bronze equivalents.
The shoe was not the only notable discovery made by the archaeologists. In the immediate vicinity, they also found a wooden shovel and what may have been a fur hood.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...
Could just have easily been a smaller ladies shoe, no?
As is typical with children’s shoes, they’ve looked all over and they still can’t find the other one.
That is a pretty cool Iron Age design!
Very cool. I made a pair of slippers once out of deerhide that looked somewhat like these only th3y were closed in on top
Look in the Toy Box.
Found near a salt mine. Would salt act as a preservative?
I think those are Biden’s as much as he falls down.
True, but once he was near the ball, he could kick a goal from the far end of the field.
BTW, soccer sucks, so the little jerk deserved iron shoes.
Great points. Ditto soccer.
All seriousness aside, the pictured shoe is as modern a style as any you would see in today’s shoe stores. Quite neat.
Definitely, although it's weird no one ever digs up ancient salt shakers...
The saltmine keyword, sorted, edited:
This is just south of Salzburg, known for its salt mines, and is a really neat tour. The salt and other mines go back to almost pre-history.
Because salt decays many metals, most mining material used wood and leather, with only metal tools. The shifts of miners would work underground most of the day, and used wooden rails to slide down to lower floors. Today they pump water down, which forms brine, then pump out the brine. For tourists, the huge underground brine lake has a flat bottomed wooden boat with no metal, that is pulled by rope.
Although faded by the centuries, the Swoosh can be detected on the side under scanning electron microscope.
The paper towel was preserved too!
2nd century bc is after the iron age.
This confirms the scientific theory that children of the Iron Age had feet...
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