The 10,000 Year Old Shoes

Ever wondered what the oldest shoe in the world is? No? I'm not surprised, still made a video on it though.
If you want to learn more about these artefacts or see them yourself, then why not visit the University of Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History. It's a great place! mnch.uoregon.edu/
Thanks so much!
Sources:
Aikens, C. Melvin., et al. Oregon Archaeology. Oregon State University Press, 2011.
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www.stefanmilo.com
Historysmilo
historysmilo
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Image Atributions:
All footage/images of the artefacts taken by me at the Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History.
natural-history.uoregon.edu/
Fallschirmjäger, Lake bonneville map, CC BY-SA 3.0
Didier Descouens, Coelodonta antiquitatis , CC BY-SA 4.0
WolfmanSF, Camelops hesternus, CC BY-SA 3.0
WolfmanSF, Columbian mammoth, CC BY-SA 3.0
Daniel D'Auria from Southern New Jersey, USA, Branta canadensis -near Oceanville, New Jersey, USA -flying-8, CC BY-SA 2.0
John Atherton, University of Oregon archaeological excavations at Fort Rock Cave, Oregon (USA), 1966, CC BY-SA 2.0

[@StefanMilo]

If you want to learn more about these artefacts or see them yourself, then why not visit the University of Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History. It's a great place! mnch.uoregon.edu/ Thanks so much!

[@NOMAD-qp3dd]

So when did humans start augmenting with clothing and shoes and covering their privates? Do we know? Have a vid already? That would seem a turning point in evolution, the tribe of monkees who started weaving little crotch patches 😄 Hey, less infections maybe? to go back in time and see the creature that made those shoes would be awesome.

[@PaulA-qp6ev]

are these like loafers?

[@doctorpicardnononono7469]

so many one legged people back then, tragic.

[@NorthworthySagasStories]

Lol

[@andynixon2820]

Or maybe everyone just had two left or two right feet .

[@Lora_M_NY]

Haha

[@gruppettovelo]

I believe those one legged ancient ancestors are the folks who opened the very first IHOP franchise.

[@jackyichan4759]

Like socks you just seem to loose one or the other

[@gelgamath_9903]

Drinking excessive amounts of beer might be an English ritual that dates back to the Stone age

[@StefanMilo]

That's very true lol.

[@MaryAnnNytowl]

@Irish Jester all the more reason to start early, LOL!

[@HarryGuit]

Must be neolithic - farming, barley, beer.

[@1harperaj]

Very sensible as water was not very pure, better to make week beer by todays standards for long lasting refreshments necessary to sustain life

[@greenflagracing7067]

found hanging from a telephone line.

[@sneeringimperialist6667]

Those shoes held up better than the ones I bought from Walmart.

[@zenolachance1181]

You bought shoes at Walmart???

[@Mrbfgray]

Your Walfart shoes wore out on the way home from that horrible store.

[@MaryAnnNytowl]

That's what happens when you buy the Chinese-made junk at Walmart... you can find 10× more American-made stuff at Dollar General, for crying out loud!

[@redactedbananas]

I bought a pair of running shoes from Walmart for like $20 dollars and they are extremely durable, although they don't vent well. (I think the mesh is fake.) But the soles have worn down smooth without coming off.

[@icedteacatfish]

i think they held up better than any shoes ever

[@derpmcgerp8062]

*Ancient Oregon has entered the chat* *Adidas has left the chat* *Nike has left the chat* *Sketchers has left the chat* *Ancient Oregon promoted to admin*

[@EugeneAyindolmah]

Nike is from Oregon

[@MaryAnnNytowl]

@@EugeneAyindolmah yeah, maybe he shoukd have just left that line out... even Converse, the only other fairly large shoe company I could think of, is an American company, LOL!

[@TheLacedaemonian300]

I think it's pretty obvious what happened here; a new company came to town with their brand new, badass kicks called the 'Sagebrush Airs', and totally took over the market. Probably because this new shoe could make one run faster and jump higher, and the chicks just dig a man with Airs. The dead rabbits were a symbolic representation of the death of the previous shoe company that used a rabbit as its logo, how lame. Mystery solved!

[@juanvaldes1837]

Yes!!!! That's it!!!

[@StefanMilo]

An Old Shoe Haiku: Intertwined Sagebrush found with 10,000 rabbits stone age comes to life Thanks for watching!

[@garytucker5748]

Happy new year.

[@duck1ente]

*Jacksfilms wants to know your location*

[@noahsabin7386]

Could you make a video making replicas of these shoes? I think it would be super cool to watch!

[@Masaru_kun]

As you lose more hair I grow more downstairs It's yours to share ;) -a haiku for my good pal steven milo (i swear i thought of this before seeing your comment...)

[@NerdWorldEmpire]

Would maintaining the chalk figures count as a tradition? Some of them go back to prehistory? Then there's old drystone walling but those might not count as traditions? Halloween is an old celtic celebration originally just thoughts I'm struggling to think of any traditions in the UK that are prehistoric

[@maisondusuave]

The 2nd style appears to be adjustable and protects the heel. Better design. Could have come from outsiders, or just someone really fed up with their shoes falling of when they run.

[@mmneander1316]

And maybe the 2nd style could be mass-produced and traded, because adjustable to any size foot. Whereas it seems to me the 1st style had to be individually tailored to foot size.

[@liarspeaksthetruth]

@@mmneander1316 In that sense, it would be an invasion. "Have you seen woven crox?" 1 week later: everyone is wearing woven crox.

[@mmneander1316]

@@liarspeaksthetruth Heh:-)

[@tinstreet_egg]

​@liarspeaksthetruth oh god no, not the woven crocs 😂😂😂

[@himssendol6512]

I’ve always thought throwing coins into fountains for good luck had to have some relation with stone age water offerings of bronze daggers and stuff.

[@robertfletcher3421]

Teenagers decided they wanted their own fashion just like now.

[@bozo5632]

Once, in 20000 years.

[@Thx1138sober]

What really amazing and what Stefan forgot to mention, is that the pair of 9,000-year-old shoes were found hanging from the wires of a 9,000-year-old utility pole.

[@MatthewDoye]

Oldest continuous rituals in Britain, complaining about the weather and how dark it gets in winter. The oldest craft still practiced I can think of is beadmaking.

[@username65585]

Uffington White Horse?

[@StefanMilo]

That's a good one

[@NorthworthySagasStories]

Today it is raining and overcast in the UK, again. lol

[@MatthewDoye]

@@NorthworthySagasStories Good guess though just overcast today and dark by 4pm, aka January. Nice channel BTW, I'm subscribing.

[@NorthworthySagasStories]

Oh yeah and thanks, Matthew Doye for liking and subscribing to the channel. Welcome!

[@pseudo.account]

Lol. "I even made a bloody spear." That strikes me as a very British thing to say

[@StefanMilo]

It bloody well is!

[@christopherellis2663]

As opposed to making the spear bloody

[@hellboy7424]

Multiple warp looks better for rumning. Besides, the feet are more protected. I think is just a natural evolution from "kind A" , not a "war" situation. Sorry for my broken english.

[@StefanMilo]

No I agree, I would prefer to wear them and probably these stone age folks agreed. It must have been very durable as the style lasted thousands of years and you wouldn't wear them if they sucked.

[@fleetskipper1810]

The first sandal is more like a scuff, meaning, it was backless. The second provided increased heel protection and also appears to rise higher up on the top of the foot as well as having a stouter toe box that protected the toes better. The newer version also looks like it had more secure methods of tying the sandal to the wearer’s foot. Overall, it was just a design improvement for people who walked long distances over rough terrain. Depending upon the local microclimate at the time, it was better for colder weather than the first version. It would be really fascinating to consult somebody who designs shoes and see what they think. Anyway, there likely was a practical reason for the change related to climate.

[@lesleeg9481]

Had any of the other basketry styles changed during that time frame? Someone may have discovered the cool multi warp method and applied it to shoes, and being that multi warp weaving is way more flexible than the first style of weaving, they were able to change the style so that the shoe would stay on better and give more protection - which could help if it was getting so much colder..

[@pseudopetrus]

I always thought that it was unusual how our feet developed, in a way so frail and yet enabling us to travel great distances. I live in Canada, and I have tried to adapt my feet to the cold by walking barefoot in the snow. You lose a lot of heat through your bare feet in the snow and really, I did not find my experiment practical, in spite of repeated exposure, my feet did not adapt. I thought that perhaps they would grow hair or something, but I was not that lucky.

[@StefanMilo]

Yeah it's interesting, definitely hard in a cold climate like Canada. For those that live in warmer climates like Africa and still go without shoes, their feet are probably like leather.

[@EugeneAyindolmah]

@@StefanMilo thats how my dads feet are

[@kevingee4294]

At least your grandkids will have hairy feet!

[@kevingee4294]

At least your grandkids will have hairy feet!

[@zenolachance1181]

The native peruvians around Lake Titicaca walk Barefoot in the snow all the time , but it is something you must do from childhood , you can't just decide one day you're going to adapt your feet to walking barefoot in the snow

[@carolnorton2551]

The style changed from slip-ons to lace ups. The style may have changed back and forth every season. We don't have sales quotas for each season since , now do we?

[@elikithompson96]

I live in Oregon and as I have been researching this topic and these shoes it hit me. The native cultures here seemed to persist relatively unchanged while other massive cultures all over the world rose and fell. South American, Egyptian, Roman, Mexican and Mayan. They wove nearly the same baskets and wore the same sandals for 9,000 years. Ponderous.

[@CuteCritters]

My hippy friends would rock those now. Ok I mean me.

[@Kirindor]

Thanks for the video. I agree that your channel needs many more subscribers. I like the focus on the mundane, common elements of life. These ancient shoes represent a tremendous amount of labor. All of the fiber for the cordage had to be sourced and then twisted before being woven. I have made shoes similar to these. In mine I found that the sole of the shoes couldn't extend under the toes because that part would curl under and become a tripping hazard. Again thanks for the videos.

[@StefanMilo]

Oh yeah a tremendous amount of effort. Even just gathering enough bark to make the cords would probably take all day.

[@LunaC...]

I find it weird that he goes to all the trouble of going on location but never talks about where he is or why he's there...

[@Friendlyfarter]

Your videos are so soothing to watch. And what a silky voice you have! I wonder how warm/comfortable those shoes were. They look cold. They make me thankful for my thermal socks and big boots.

[@twillyspree3759]

Stefan, another fantastic video taking a piece of mundane life and bringing it to life with all your humor and curiosity. I loved in one of your videos that you described yourself as "Yes, I 'm THAT level of nerd"! So am I, keep posting for me & all your fellow dedicated nerds.

[@tectosagos9327]

Also, how about a look at Otzi the Iceman's woven kit? Just a thought.

[@hellboy7424]

4000 years, not 10000. In any case, footwear is certainly an invention very much previous to Homo sapiens, but the materials of which they are made simply rot very easily, that is why it is rare to find them.

[@tectosagos9327]

I realise Otzi is a bit more recent, the interest is in the extensive use of woven plant material as opposed to the "cavemen in skins" concept.

[@hellboy7424]

@@tectosagos9327I'm sorry if you have misunderstood me, I have never doubted your knowledge. It is simply the pleasure of exchanging knowledge. There are fibrous plants throughout the world and many are susceptible to be interwoven to make clothes and footwear. The subject is fascinating

[@hellboy7424]

@@tectosagos9327 The skin (leather)is a wonderful material that is still in use today. The problem is the idea of ​​people believing that human beings who inhabited the earth at that time were little more than apes, when the reality is that they had an incredible adaptation to the environment and a very interesting technology. Even the Neandertals would be very similar to the Native Americans of the 19th century or the Inuit Sorry for my broken english.

[@tectosagos9327]

Hell Boy, it's all cool. No worries. I spent a week once, making 3 pairs of authentic shoes for my children for an event. Tore my fingers to shreds, blisters, the works. And because most of the other kids there went barefoot, they never wore them! Bless. How we laughed.

[@avaevathornton9851]

Word for the day: undersubscribed

[@thecasualcitizen492]

The question about why the weaving style changed was very interesting. Perhaps showing the weaving style of one shoe and comparing it to the changed weaving style and researching the possibilities would be a topic for a video. The older Fort rock style appears to be more labor intensive in the front part covering the toe and upper foot. The Multiple wrap looks like a faster method but also it has more twine holding the shoe on the foot in the shoe lace area, and appears to have more weaving in the heel area to hold the show on the heel.

[@KhAnubis]

The OG Nike (Yes, everyone; Nike is based in Oregon)

[@StefanMilo]

And yet I own zero Nikes

[@KhAnubis]

Same actually, and I've lived here 10 years!

[@lilsleepy1969]

legendary interaction

[@michieldeprez4025]

This might be an example of continuity since the stone age in Britain: A study from 2014 that examined the role of Mesolithic hunter gatherers in structuring Scotland’s woodlands looked at the archaeobotanical remains of 47 sites dating between 8600 and 4000 cal BC. One of the results was that on 70% of the sites they found Hazel nutshells, with very large concentrations on at least 4 sites (on the site of Staosnaig F24 for example they found the fragment remains of between 30.000 and 40.000 whole hazelnuts. It could of course be that these hunter gatherers simply collected the hazelnuts but given the very large quantities Bishop (the author of the article) finds it likely that they pruned the hazel trees to increase the nut production. This practice is very common on British commercial hazelnut farms since ( at least) the 19th century and it might have originated in the Mesolithic. It will probably never be more than a hypothesis but I think it’s a plausible one! Source: Firewood, food and human niche construction: the potential role of Mesolithic hunter-gatherers in actively structuring Scotland’s woodlands by Rosie R. Bishop et al.

[@Cheeseatingjunglista]

@EEETALYANO p Dear me, Bible basher are we?

[@kabivose]

@EEETALYANO p by that time Jericho had impressive walls. It was a substantial city by 8000BC. Who was there if it wasnt Homo sapiens? Denisovans? Neanderthals?

[@matuvarela3760]

IDK if it count but here in Argentina and Uruguay we use some kind of shoes "alpargatas" that have a sole made of rope. when you step on water with those alpargatas the sole get hard and is almost useless by modern standars, but it is very confy and fresh

[@maxb482]

This is one of my favorite episodes of yours. I love hearing about our regions here around Oregon. More bangers like this one please!

[@myothersoul1953]

One thing that might change the style of shoe is they found something better. Finding something better is a good thing. Ten thousand years of not changing much means 10,000 years of not find much that is better. Their goal was to sustain themselves not to create a sustainability. Given technology better at taking resources from the environment they would have used it just like any other group of humans would have and did. Sustainability is a modern concern, a better concern than what came before, and one we should adopt more fully.

[@StefanMilo]

I agree 100%

[@tectosagos9327]

Excellent, as usual! Very cool to see the seemingly mundane made interesting! You could do a follow up on earliest leather shoes or similar. There's the Armenian (I think) cave find at over 5000 yrs old, and a few others a bit more recent. Also, (can't remember if I've mentioned before) but have a look for the research/books by P.V. Glob, lots of very early fabrics and clothing from mainly European bog finds. Recreations of these finds look amazing.

[@StefanMilo]

Thanks Tecto, I'll definitely check those out. Yeah I didn't manage it with this month but going forward I'm trying to give each month a theme so that I can make short videos but also get into more detail.

[@mpetersen6]

@@StefanMilo I think we can agree that the oldest leather shoes go way back into what passes for human deep time. They may have been sections of skin wrapped around the foot and tied off. But they still qualify. Amongst the oldest crafts still practiced basket weaving has to be right up there. The natives of the interior PNW seem to have used primarily materials as you stated. The natives of the Eastern Woodlands it seems would have used more wood strips. In Europe I wonder about the use of fiber from Beech trees. I see it today used for linens. Of course there is flax. How about an article on the origins of silk production

[@IvoTichelaar]

I don't know exactly from which period they were, but I once did a botany field course (biology) around a group of burial mounds in the Northeast of the Netherlands, containing cremated remains. Parts of the mounds have been researched by archeologists. Locals warned them that a certain set of mounds furthest away from the village was bad, haunted and had something to do with unhappy children. The archeologists found remains of children in those mounds. This seems to suggest that some knowledge of the burial mounds has survived for centuries. I think we have been mostly burying our dead since the Romans invaded. So at least 2,000 years old. It must have survived the great migration and several changes of population. Also, the separate location for the child burials snd the fear of the locals might mean they were located furthest away from the settlement, as they are now.

[@Ken19700]

More than likely the multiple warp style stayed on the foot better.

[@StefanMilo]

Probably, they look sturdier.

[@dunnhomevideos2811]

I love your videos my friend, you do great work and provide high quality content. Thank you good sir, for the honest efforts

[@TeethToothman]

You're the best, Stefan. Thanks! 🫀👽🫀

[@sharonbarker5751]

I love your videos! They are all so informative and interesting.

[@jwvandegronden]

Stefan, this begs for a deep dive and even maybe a long form? Or did you already pick up on that since 2 years passed? Your tone, humor, knowledge of the broader topic in general and your scientific approach makes it a feast to listen to and watch. And I think many with me would love to see long form more often. There is so much to discover: interview a cobbler, someone who invests in the traditional shoe making, a walk through the timeline from barefooted forefathers up to these woven shoes, and I think there is nothing wrong with some elaborate educated guesswork on the story behind these artifacts. Hypothesizing is like daydreaming for academics, so go for it, mate. We all happily follow your trail.

[@watsonwrote]

So cool to learn more about the history of my home state! It's strange that the headquarters of Nike is also the home of the oldest known shoes.

[@NorthworthySagasStories]

Those are very old shoes indeed. Cool video and nice to learn something new. Keep up the good work and Happy New Year Stefan!

[@StefanMilo]

Thanks, Happy New Year!

[@MrDestomp]

Keep up the good work mate! Happy 2020 from a fellow archaeologist in Greece!

[@BytebroUK]

There was this one really smart kid training as a shoemaker, and he made one that was better than anything they were selling. His boss stole the design and sold it, and the rest is history :)

[@LondonReps]

Just checking in to say how much I enjoyed this one, much love x

[@judemorales4U]

I found, what I believe to be a wooden sole of a old shoe. It was in a dense area of bush along side a creek in Washington state. I always wanted to get it to someone to look at. I left it behind in a box though and moved to Egypt. Lost the box after 10 years but really was certain it was a shoe. It had holes in it for the toe and 2 at the heel area. It was water and rock worn down but sure looked like part if a shoe. I will never know for sure....

[@kittylevee4662]

Why not simply a person who was an innovative weaver⁉️😍 💜💙💚💛🧡❤

[@John-mf6ky]

Wow, I never knew of stuff like this being found in my home state. Do you live in Oregon, or just there for vacation? It would be cool to see something on the petroglyphs found in Oregon !

[@jacksonwilliams8971]

Oh hey those are at my school’s History museum! Love your videos, and I’m pleasantly surprised to learn you’re an Oregonian too!!

[@bethymears2648]

Who ever worn it their descendants are still living. Thankyou it's wonderful to see what peoples ancestors had worn on their feet. Thankyou so much.

[@elizabethshaw734]

After watching many of your videos today I can say I believe that you are the only person who would do a video on a 10000 year old shoe! :-)

[@XaveRave]

big year for old baby Stephan! pumped bro!

[@parrotraiser6541]

The practice of lighting bonfires annually on certain hills in Britain likely has very ancient origins. Probably to do with maintaining routes through forests. Maypoles may also have ancient origins, in spring fertility rituals. (When reviving antique customs was fashionable in the late 19th/early 20th century, I'm sure a lot of respectable spinster would have been shockedif they realised t the symbolism they were enacting.)

[@jgrandson5651]

What you are saying sounds very familiar to me hahaha. We still do very similar things here in Galicia, northwestern Spain. I just posted a coment explaining it :)

[@altair458]

This is great!!! Makes me think. Thanks

[@wiscgaloot]

I'd love to make a pair of those for myself. Great video, thanks!

[@ozwhistles]

The tradition of the simple flute (6-tone-hole) seems to be 25k+ In Western Europe (and colonies). Pretty much unchanged. Materials that come to hand are rendered in the same way for the exact same result.With the shoes - the advent of non-productive months with the climate-shift would mandate a time of reflection. IN these times, the weavers had time to think about their craft and innovate. You can see this in the seasonal cultures around the world in the advancement of weaving craft in deeply seasonal cultures. I might add that weaving is the genesis of computation as we know it?

[@gabbytriestomakethings]

As a costumer who often makes mistakes then rolls with it, I wonder how many new designs were discovered by doing something, making a mistake then liking it or not wanting to start over.

[@zacharystroud6682]

Nice a new video! Awsome man.

[@christopherellis2663]

I thought that it would be the 🇦🇲 Armenian shoe. Morris Dancing is actually Moorish Dancing, imported from Spain where the local variety is still available. Thank you for this very informative video 📹

[@lizcademy4809]

There's a web page where you can read randomly generated origins of Morris dancing ... one of my kids (Fool) and I (Squire) even contributed to it. I would definitely believe Morris dancing goes way, way back, though I'm not sure what pre-metal cultures would use for bells.

[@adrasthe314]

I'm so salty, KZbin never send me the notif for the vid :( It feels so strange to see these old shoes, I feel like they look sort of recent somehow? It kind of makes our ancestors feel more close to us than they usually do lol

[@StefanMilo]

Wow someone actually has notifications on for my videos! Yeah they are very modern. I guess no matter the time period, everyone loves warm feet.

[@kabivose]

@@StefanMilo some bright bored child said "what would happen if we wove it this way?" Sources: I was a bright child and I've had bright children. PS the prototype could have been for a doll.

[@jwvandegronden]

I think it comes so close to home because it tells the story of a people just as smart as us looking for ways to make their lives easier? That conceptual ability we only share with our ancestors, there is no other animal we can relate to in that regard. I think the same response although more observing possibly is when we see e.g. crows solve these complex puzzles or when we learn that elephants communicate and empathize across species. That wonder and interconnectedness horizontally is warming, vertically over time with our ancestors is even more radiating; It’s a good feeling to have!

[@dunerh]

The reason why Europeans don't have any cultural links to their stone age predecessors is largely that of the fact that nearly no culture or languages survived the Indo-European invasion. Besides tiny pockets of remaining people, ie the Basques and the native people of Crete, the only remaining non-IE peoples are suspected to have arived after the IE invasion. These people include the Magyars (Hungarians), the Bulgars and the Finish people. And most of these people are of Ural decent, so even they don't have any link to the stone age culture of native Europeans.

[@stephena1196]

There is a cultural link with the Stone Age in Britain. Stonehenge was built in the Neolithic and archeologists have found evidence of mid-winter feasting there. We have mid-winter feasting now, we call it Christmas.

[@shadymerchant1198]

@@stephena1196 sure but Christmas is hardly a direct continuation of the old druidic winter festivals

[@Jacob-yg7lz]

The IE invasion wasn't a total and utter assimilation. Some aspects of the native populations cultures, as well as most of their genetics, survived afterwards. The Roman Empire, migration period, and Christianity did also help root out a lot of old traditions tho.

[@dunerh]

@@stephena1196 that was a Germanic tradition, not a pre IE one

[@christophermiller4471]

You could also have mentioned the Sámi people (also known as Lapps) of northern Scandinavia.

[@keithoutsidethebox6707]

Woolly Rhino's - Coelodonta range were restricted to Eurasia. The last true Rhinoceros to live in N America was Teleoceras 5- 4.9 ma.Easily done. Love your videos.

[@OscarPanczenko]

LOVED THIS ONE!

[@reuireuiop0]

The survival of cultural custom like that communal rabbit hunt over such long periods, makes you realise how hard it must have been for the first farmers to convince their tribesmen that eating that self seeded stuff from the ground was just as well as the hunting and gathering man had done (and handed down in tradition) for over 1000 millennia. Accepting agriculture as a decent way of life must have taken a millennia period of cultural transition.

[@physetermacrocephalus2209]

Correct me if I'm wrong but visiting Stonehenge sounds like a stone age European ritual that modern Europeans still partake in today.

[@StefanMilo]

True, but the meaning has changed somewhat. At least for most visitors.

[@krisinsaigon]

It's fascinating that they had traditions like these shoes that survived unchanged for so many thousands of years. I live in vietnam, i wear flip flops/sandals all the time. Looking at the 10,000 year old style, then the 9,000 year version, it's clear the newer style is much better designed, when you walk in it it's going to stay on much better because it's held in place by the straps going from the heel to the front of the foot. My guess would be, and this is just a guess, that one of the people from the culture with the old shoe style just hit upon the idea one day and since it was obviously superior the new style superceded the old. I don't know if it needs a new people entering into the area, the original people had agency of their own to innovate

[@klondikechris]

Old customs still observed: throwing a coin into water (like a well), and making a wish. This apparently goes back to the worship of a Celtic goddess, although Romans did similar things.

[@UteChewb]

I have to say those "new" shoes look much cooler. I bet a new tribe moved in nearby and the locals saw their shoes and said, "That's awesome, mate. How do you make them?"

[@dasmitch161]

My life is now complete with that information. I must know everything now.

[@shadymerchant1198]

the oldest i can think of is cutting and adorning trees in Europe which is still practiced today with christmas trees and people have been doing that for thousands of years unfortunately there is no clear earliest example as cut and non-preserved trees tend not to survive very long

[@raccoonresidence9086]

I wonder if they had socks? That or really sore feet. With those design changes, the ladies that wore them were high mainenance

[@rockbore]

Nice vid. Weave and spin tech is often cited as the beginning of the industrial revolution with Compten's Mule. Maybe someone used a new application of an available material to allow for an improvement in the manufacture of the shoe, like the Mule, only less elaborate but equally as useful. Maybe just a faster make of shoe to produce. Also, it looks a little stronger with more lateral tie-in weaves.

[@robertbrownm]

Nice choice of scenery!

[@StefanMilo]

Cottonwood Canyon Boi

[@eliad6543]

Maybe instead of some new people arriving to the area, the cause of the change in shoe type was due to the sagebrush spreading or starting to grow in large enough amounts to become the optimal shoemaking material? This also seems very testable.

[@AngryMothNoises]

Yo, I am from central oregon. We didn't have dinosaurs but we got cool stuff like this. I am pretty sure this shoe your talking about is at the Museum in Eugene Oregon. I have seen some shoe there, its very cool.

[@pattywolford]

It’s always interesting when fiber artifacts survive for thousands of years. Also, the twine/rope making, then weaving or knotting to create an article of clothing or footwear….really remarkable ancient technology.

[@timcargile1562]

Thanks for creating and uploading this video! As to the 9,000 years ago change in 'the way they weaved the shoes', It seems to me that the design of the shoe on the right side of the comparison drawings were an improvement because they apparently can be tightened much like a modern shoelace type shoe. If the shoe on the left can be easily tightened, the drawing doesn't show it. In a thousand years can it be conceived that an improvement in the shoe design by a creative individual shoemaker rather than having to explain it by having a new group of people move in? My main question is what did they use as socks to keep the rough woven shoes more comfortable and warmer. Would it have been grass or some softer vegetation as Otzi the Iceman was using in Europe (apparently)?

[@Nembula]

Christmas is really the winter solstice. The Yule log is an old tradition of the Celt's brought forward. The local shaman had a peyote infused dream about a new style and they figured out something new. Nah, you're probably right some one cruised through with some new kind of weave from outside their normal trade partners.

[@sophieinspired]

clearly the first fashion designer has entered the stage

[@jericson1109]

The toe box of the first style looks labor intensive. The later style looks to me maybe like what you'd change to if you had a more ample supply of the large twine. Maybe they developed a better, easier method to produce that component and so could be more generous with use of it?

[@kristbane]

The most likely reason for the style change is that ancient aliens shared their shoe technology.

[@surfk9836]

They were found in the returned bin at Amazon.

[@SimonSozzi7258]

4:30 I think that with the laces they can fit more sizes. The others were very made to fit. Maybe the materials, the grasses or reeds became less abundant..?.

[@akaramata4544]

In the Balkans, we have a tradition around the end of winter to scare evil spirits away with outrageous costumes, called Kuker-s. I suppose this tradition spans back to the Stone Age. Certainly, it was not Indo-European or agrarian.

[@Etic335]

We did the same until a few decades ago in the east of turkey, it called kushmar .

[@MH-ro1lg]

A tradition that is around today which probably dates back 9k years ago is when men greet each other as non aggressors, they display their unarmed/open palms.

[@Thrashdragon]

Weave gotta do more archeological studies to be shoe of why that design transition occurred

[@andrewgu2457]

Thrashdragon *slow clap*

[@Thrashdragon]

* exaggerated bow

[@StefanMilo]

Bravo that man

[@FrauWNiemand]

Well, I think there IS an european tradition which dates back really long. This is te making of butter in Austria. I don't know how long this dates back, but we went to Austria around 2000. There was an area right at the dead end of a valley in the alps. A valley where all mountain rivers met and it was still difficult to get there and there are tiny houses made out of stone and wood, no internet, barely electrificated at this time. freezing cold nights below zero degrees in mid August, houses covered fully in snow during wintertime. They made butter like some hundered years ago.

[@haraldisdead]

The man who never stops smiling

[@pmboston]

Were there people living in Britain in the younger dryas? Pretty icy. Not many rabbits either. Morris dancing is moorish dancing so I guess not Stone Age. But the shoes were so cool. Loved the video.

[@SFVYachtClub]

"Fly kicks, my hominid. You boutta hand them over fore you catch these arrowz"

[@oooooo3839]

I can see several reasons for the change in style: 1. the heel is higher, so it would stay on more like a shoe than a sandal, 2: there are more warps (which are stronger) near the toe than the first style, so it would last longer, 3: it looks like the top of the instep is able to be tightened around the inner cushioning and warmth lining materials, just as we tighten our shoelaces, whereas the first shoe looks as if it was woven to a set circumfrence. You may want to check out a different directionand a different part of the world for more answers about ancient american tech. I teaveled the south and southwest with a new immigrant raised decades ago at a village on the Arabian Sea who was familiar with basket weaving techniques and woven shoes displayed at a museum in Memphis from a mound culture. A few days later at a SW museum: this person was familiar with both large grinding stones, and with a small flat grinding stone ( the display posited it may be a window cover, but to this person it was definitely a stone for grinding fine things, like eye makeup.) There was a stone with a groove made around the circumference in a display that said it was not known what the groove was for (perhaps the question was for schoolchildren) and it was explained the stone was tied with a rope to the cover of the clay water jar serving as a weight to secure the cover it down, as water stored in clay is cooler in the hot desert climate, and even the construction of the SW stone dwelling was similar to this person's grandfathers house. Stones were also used to weigh down the roofs. Then, lastly in Santa Fe we saw the similarity to double-necked wedding vases in Pakistan/India and in the American SW, except it was noted the ones in India are made of metal, not clay. After that trip, I wondered if Columbus was not so far off the mark after all when he named the people of the Americas Indians. Perhaps many answers to questions about ancient American tech can be found in Asia.

[@cillyhoney1892]

The Native Americans came from Asia so it makes sense that there would be similarities. Even now the Native Siberians the Nenets live in leather teepees and wear beads and feathers for ornaments.

[@lilpwnige]

The hottest sneaker of 12,000BCE, presenting the Younger Dryeezys.

[@StefanMilo]

Bravo that man!

[@big1dog23]

Hope you enjoyed Oregon. The stone point technology might be more telling than shoe styles. Walking baerfoot in the high desert would suck.

[@ryanhelmer9369]

Ha! I got one older. A left foot baby shoe with missing jingle bell, cobbled to the highest quality, turned to solid greystone. Some of the stone nails exhibit traces of rust.

[@ryanhelmer9369]

Found in Ontario

[@richard1590]

my theory on the change in style, after years of the same shoe perhaps they had a predictable wear pattern where more often than not is where they would break first, so one weaver put a bit more effort in to solve that to make their shoes to solve that issue with the old design and the better design just caught on as improvements tend to

[@vintagelady1]

So now I understand why I've never seen a rabbit here in oregon, but there are plenty of shoe stores!

[@rogerroca3443]

In Catalonia, the country around Barcelona, we have the tradition to lit some fires during the night of June 24. I've heard that this would be pre Cristian and so it may be from Neolithic period

[@kevindorland738]

Changed for human's endless goal to improve the lives of their loved ones.

[@chanaheszter168]

Seeing this belatedly...have you ever looked at naalbinding and knitting? Oldest sock ever found was Roman item with sandal toe cleft. Nerdy Knitters want to know.

[@dianehansen5552]

My step father often would get 2,000 pairs of rabbits at a time when that was hit profession. Of course, it was the midst of the Australian rabbit plague, and he had steel traps.

[@chrisconway9959]

Well I would say halloween and Christmas are two great examples of neolithic traditions that have survived into the present. Of course they have been reengineered by a couple of faiths in the meantime, but the basic premise holds. One is for winter solstice (Christmas), and the other is for the transition from warm activities, to survival mode for winter.

[@injunsun]

My hypothesis is that, just as I sometimes experiment with different variations when I crochet, some ancient shoemaker was just being creative, and found a design improvement he or she liked. As it was a clear improvement, the technique was copied and shared. No invasion necessary. There are many examples of cultural sharing predating eventual genetic sharing, by centuries. Examples include vessel design, weaving design, and "culture hero" mythos, as depicted in convergent Bronze Age art forms. (Hence, my chosen name.)