Where did shoes come from?

Today I thought we'd go back to the roots of footwear. Investigating exactly how far back in time shoes existed. Many historical references indicate footwear was present during the Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Etruscan, Roman, Medieval, Renaissance eras.. many have solid evidence and artifacts to support these beliefs. Using common materials such as bark, leaves and grass, our ancestors would protect their feet by tieing these materials under foot with vines. In warm countries sandals would be made from woven palms and grass, whilst in cold countries heat insulating materials were used such as the skin of animals. Shoes really can be a fascinating subject when considering the status they conveyed in different periods. For example in ancient Greece and Rome footwear was seen as a sign of wealth.

To begin, we must go far back in time. We're talking 40,000 BC during the middle of the Palaeolithic age (the prehistoric era of mankind's history)  where the most primitive stone tools were used and hunting, fishing and gathering was in its prime. But hang on.. isn't this the time that Caveman were around? Yes it is. But dont illustrations of Caveman show them barefoot? Yes they do. Am I making this up? haha no. On the contrary, there is no solid proof that footwear was ever used by Caveman, except for a small significant discovery by a man named Erik Trinkaus.

Erik Trinkaus is an expert on human evolution, a modern Charles Darwin if you will. Born in 1948 he dedicated his life to studying biology, human diversity, and more specifically the evolution of the species HomoSapien (modern human being). With his PhD in anthropology, Erik studied at the Washington University in St.Louis and discovered something quite remarkable. Looking back to the Palaeolithic age being, it became apparent the size of the toe bones had began to shrink. Using extensive data about how shoes change the way people walk, Trinkaus concluded the smaller toe bones indicated mankind had started wearing shoes. His discovery was founded on a simple fact.

Bone size is not universal and is effected by numerous factors of a persons lifestyle.

Bones react to the stresses we put on them. When exercising your body, not only will your muscles increase in size, but so will your bones. For the most of history, humans have large toe bones. This is likely due to more walking, climbing and practical movement then we do today. Despite the oldest surviving shoe being 10,000 years old, this discovery indicates 40,000 years ago, the skeletons that were discovered still had strong, thick bones.. but there toes were smaller.

Having pieced together this fascinating information, Erik concluded the only thing that would take away stresses on the toes, and not the legs is shoes. So does this mean Cavemen are the founders of footwear? I truly don't know for sure, and I doubt anyone ever will. But its a curious thought that does make sense. What do you think?

 

Written by Keiran