Archaeologists in the U.K. made an extraordinary discovery recently when they unearthed an intact 2,000-year-old child’s shoe with laces still intact. The shoe is believed to date back to the Iron Age and was found in a Cheshire quarry.
The shoe is estimated to date back to the Third Century B.C., making it around 2,400 years old. It is of a leather and fabric bilaminate construction and aside from the intact laces, it is lined with woolen fabric and leather thong for the laces and features a leather sole.
The find is particularly interesting and tells us a lot about Iron Age people. It shows that despite being 2,000 years old, the same technology was used to make children’s shoes as it is today. Uses of animal leather and wool for the linings are common these days, however this is believed to be the earliest evidence of shoes with laces that are still in tact.
Archaeologists believe that the shoe could have belonged to a young girl as it was on the small side, measuring around eight centimeters long and five centimeters across.
The discovery is yet another example of the fascinating history of Britain and the remains of its inhabitants. It is also an important glimpse into the lives of Iron Age people, who lived over two thousand years ago. It shows that technology and level of craftsmanship were already quite advanced at that time.
