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The Areni-1 shoe is a 5,500-year-old leather shoe that was found in 2008 in excellent condition in the
Areni-1 cave The Areni-1 cave complex ( hy, Արենիի քարանձավ) is a multicomponent site, and late Chalcolithic/Early Bronze Age ritual site and settlement, located near the Areni village in southern Armenia along the Arpa River. Findings ...
located in the
Vayots Dzor Vayots Dzor ( hy, Վայոց Ձոր, ) is a province (''marz'') of Armenia. It lies at the southeastern end of the country, bordering the Nakhchivan exclave of Azerbaijan to the west and the Kalbajar District of Azerbaijan to the east. It cove ...
province of
Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...
. It is a one-piece leather-hide shoe, the oldest piece of leather footwear in the world known to contemporary researchers. The discovery was made by an international team led by
Boris Gasparyan Boris may refer to: People * Boris (given name), a male given name *:''See'': List of people with given name Boris * Boris (surname) * Boris I of Bulgaria (died 907), the first Christian ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire, canonized after his ...
, an archaeologist from the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia (co-directors of the project are
Ron Pinhasi Ron is a shortening of the name Ronald. Ron or RON may also refer to: Arts and media * Big Ron (''EastEnders''), a TV character * Ron (''King of Fighters''), a video game character *Ron Douglas, the protagonist in ''Lucky Stiff'' played by Joe A ...
from University College Cork in Ireland, and
Gregory Areshian Gregory Areshian (13 May 1949 – 2 August 2020) was an Armenian-American archeologist and historian who was a professor at American University of Armenia. He was the co-director of the international team of archeologists who, led by Boris Gaspar ...
from
UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
).


Discovery

An Armenian post-graduate student,
Diana Zardaryan Diana most commonly refers to: * Diana (name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) * Diana (mythology), ancient Roman goddess of the hunt and wild animals; later associated with the Moon * Diana, Princess of Wales (1961–1997) ...
, discovered the leather shoe in the course of excavations by a team of archeologists from Armenia’s
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography An institute is an organisational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes can ...
, Ireland and the United States.''Oldest Leather Shoe A ‘Dream’ Find For Armenian Scientist''
Armenia Liberty ( RFE/RL), June 12, 2010.
The shoe was found upside down at the base of a shallow, rounded, and plastered pit that was deep and wide, beneath an overturned broken Chalcolithic ceramic bowl. A broken pot and goat horns also were found nearby. Excavations in the same area also found the world's oldest wine-making site. The research was funded by the National Geographic Society, the Chitjian Foundation, the Gfoeller Foundation, the
Steinmetz Family Foundation Steinmetz/Steynmets is a German surname, meaning 'stonemason'. It may refer to: People * Ádám Steinmetz (born 1980), Hungarian water polo player * Andrew Steinmetz (born 1965), Canadian writer * Barnabás Steinmetz (born 1975), Hungarian wate ...
, the
Boochever Foundation Boochever is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Connie Boochever (1919–1999), American performer, director, producer of community theater, and patron and advocate for the arts * Robert Boochever (1917–2011), American judg ...
and the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at
UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
. The team's findings were published on June 9, 2010, in the journal '' PLOS One''.


Analysis

The shoe was found in near-perfect condition due to the cool and dry conditions in the cave and a thick layer of sheep dung which acted as a solid seal. Large storage containers were found in the same cave, many of which held well-preserved wheat, barley, and
apricot An apricot (, ) is a fruit, or the tree that bears the fruit, of several species in the genus ''Prunus''. Usually, an apricot is from the species '' P. armeniaca'', but the fruits of the other species in ''Prunus'' sect. ''Armeniaca'' are also ...
s, as well as other edible plants. The shoe contained grass and the archaeologists were uncertain as to whether this was because the grass was used as insulation to keep the foot warm, or used to preserve the shape of the shoe while not being worn. Lead archaeologist Ron Pinhasi could not determine whether the shoe belonged to a man or a woman. While small, approximately a woman's U.S. and Canada size 7, European size 37, or UK size 6, he stated that "the shoe could well have fitted a man from that era". The shoe laces were preserved as well. Major similarities exist between the manufacturing technique and style of one-piece leather-hide shoes discovered across Europe and the one reported from Areni-1 Cave, suggesting that shoes of this type were worn for millennia across a large and environmentally diverse geographic region. According to Pinhasi, the Areni-1 shoe is similar to the Irish ''
pampootie Pampooties are rawhide shoes, which were formerly made and worn on the Aran Islands of County Galway, Ireland. History They are formed of a single piece of untanned hide folded around the foot and stitched with twine or a leather strap. Hide fro ...
'', a shoe style worn in the
Aran Islands The Aran Islands ( ; gle, Oileáin Árann, ) or The Arans (''na hÁrainneacha'' ) are a group of three islands at the mouth of Galway Bay, off the west coast of Ireland, with a total area around . They constitute the historic barony of Aran i ...
up to the 1950s. The shoes are very similar to the traditional shoes of the Balkans, still seen today in festivals, known as
Opanci Opanci are traditional peasant shoes worn in Southeastern Europe (specifically Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and also Romania and Albania). The attributes of the opanci (name in plural) are a cons ...
(''Opanke'').National Geographic: ''World's Oldest Leather Shoe Found—Stunningly Preserved''
/ref> When the material was dated by the two radiocarbon laboratories in Oxford and California, it was established that the shoe dates back to 3,500 B.C. This date is some two hundred years older than the date given for the leather shoe found on
Ötzi the Iceman Ötzi, also called the Iceman, is the natural mummy of a man who lived some time between 3350 and 3105 BC, discovered in September 1991 in the Ötztal Alps (hence the nickname "Ötzi") on the border between Austria and Italy. Ötzi is believed to ...
. After having been treated for preservation, the Areni-1 shoe is on display at the
History Museum of Armenia The History Museum of Armenia (armenian: Հայաստանի պատմության թանգարան) is a museum in Armenia with departments of Archaeology, Numismatics, Ethnography, Modern History and Restoration. It has a national collection of ...
, Yerevan.


See also

*
Areni-1 winery The Areni-1 winery is an ancient winery that was discovered in 2007 in the Areni-1 cave complex in the village of Areni in the Vayots Dzor province of Armenia by a team of Armenian and Irish archaeologists. The excavations were carried out by ...


References

{{footwear, state=uncollapsed Copper Age Asia Archaeological artifacts Leather clothing Historical footwear 2008 archaeological discoveries Archaeology of Armenia Areni