The World’s Oldest Sandals

The world’s oldest sandals are also the world’s oldest surviving shoes of any type. And unlike most of the "world’s oldest stuff," which are mostly found in Europe, Asia, and Africa, these sandals were found in Oregon in the United States.

They were actually found in 1930 in a cave in Oregon’s arid Great Basin. About 70 pair were found in an exceptional state of preservation. They were woven from sagebrush bark and other fibers. Remarkably, the oldest sandals were found below a volcanic ash deposit created by the explosion of Mt. Mazama about 7600 years ago. Early radiocarbon dating tests placed the age of some of the sandals at more than 10,000 years old.

Then, in November 1999, international expert Petr Hlavacek of the Technical University in the Czech Republic visited the collection, housed in the Museum of Natural History in Eugene, Oregon. After studying the shoes, Hlavacek announced that the sandals were the oldest known shoes in the world.

Most of the sandals were heavily caked with mud. Researchers believe that this represents evidence that the now dry desert in the Great Basin was once home to a gigantic lake with associated marsh. They have also changed some thoughts about life in the ancient New World. For example, estimates of how long ago the first humans made their homes in the Northwestern part of the United States have now been doubled.

The shoes had all been worn, and came in a wide variety of sizes ranging from those made for young children to much larger types which would have been worn by men. Known as the Fort Rock sandals, it appears that this style of sandal was made from about 10,200 to 9,300 years ago.

A few pairs of these ancient sandals are on display at Oregon’s Museum of Natural History. The rest are stored in a climate-controlled repository where they can be preserved and made available for research.

The University of Oregon has set up an extensive website dedicated to these sandals, along with several photographs of these well-preserved artifacts. You can visit the website here