A new psychoanalysis ofancient footprintsin South Africa suggests that the humans who made these track might have been don hard - soled sandals . While research worker are reluctant to shoehorn in any fast conclusions regarding the use of footgear in the distant yesteryear , the prints ’ unusual characteristics may provide the oldest evidence yet that people used shoes to protect their feet from acuate rocks in theMiddle Stone Age .
The survey writer examine well - preserved markings left on stone slabs at three unlike locations on the Cape glide , none of which have been directly dated . However , ground on the age of other nearby rock’n’roll and sediments , the investigator suggest that tracks found at a site called Kleinkrantz may be between 79,000 and 148,000 years previous .
Unlike barefoot human track , these footprints show notoes , yet displayed “ rounded prior remainder , crisp margins , and potential evidence of strap attachment points . ” Similar markings found at a internet site call Goukamma are reckon to have been impart between 73,000 and 136,000 age ago , while a last example was located at The Woody Cape in Addo Elephant National Park .
The footprints at the Kleinkrantz site may have been left 148,000 years ago. Image credit: Charles Helm
“ In all cases the purpose tracks have dimensions that are broadly consistent with those of hominin tracks , ” save the study authors . “ The track size appear to correspond to the tracks either of jejune trackmakers , or else little - grownup hominin trackmakers , ” they say .
To test this finish , the researcher made their ownfootprintswearing sandal resemble two different pairs of shoe used historically by the Indigenous San people of southerly Africa , both of which are currently domiciliate in museum . Experiments revealed that the use of hard - sole footgear on wet sand left prints with crisp edges , no toe photographic print , and indentations where the leather strap met the sole - just like the markings at Kleinkrantz .
“ While we do not consider the evidence conclusive , we interpret the three sites [ … ] as suggesting the comportment of shod - hominin trackmakers using hard - soled sandal , ” write the investigator . Offering a possible motivation for the use of such footwear , they go on to explain that coastal foraging involves sputter over precipitous rock music while also posing the risk of stepping on sea urchins .
“ In the [ Middle Stone Age ] , a significant foot laceration might have been a death sentence , ” they say . In this scenario , sandals would have been a lifesaver .
The researchers ’ reluctance to make any bluff statements is understandable give the difficultness of interpreting rock markings , aggregate with the fact no actual shoe from the Middle Stone Age have ever been found . Any leather sandals from this menses would have long since decomposed , leave behind a 10,000 - year - previous pair of woven barque brake shoe from Oregon as the old exist footwear in the humanity .
Other examples from Israel and Armenia have been date to or so 5,500 years one-time , whileÖtzithe dry up Iceman was also find to be in self-possession of sandals when he was dispatch a small over 5,000 years ago .
Prior to this study , the oldest indication of footgear use came from two print left by Neanderthal youngster in a cave in Greece 130,000 years ago . Other boorish tracks in France have also been interpreted as evidence of shod foundation , though both shell are the subject of debate .
Highlighting the difficulty of such analyses , the discipline generator point out that tracks discovered in Nevada in the 1880s were initially attributed to a human wear sandal , but later reverse out to have been made by a giant sloth . “ In this case non - hominin sloth tracks , quite unlike from those of barefoot hominins , were ab initio mistaken by professional palaeontologist for those of calced hominins , ” write the researchers .
Not wishing to make such deceptive dictum , the source sidestep the opportunity to make any major claims about their finding . However , ground on their analyses , they mull that “ humans may indeed have worn footgear while traversing dune surfaces during the Middle Stone Age . ”
The bailiwick is put out in the journalIchnos .
