Shoes were worn at least 40,000 years ago
Submitted by coldrum on Monday, 28 January 2008 Page Views: 1699
DiscoveriesCountry: China People were wearing shoes at least 40,000 years ago, a new study published last week suggests. Scientists made the discovery while examining toe bones from a 40,000-year-old skeleton in a Tianyuan cave near Beijing in China.Erik Trinkaus and Hong Shang, from Washington University in Missouri, measured the shape and density of the bones.
They then compared them with those from a modern urban Americans' feet and late-prehistoric Native Americans and Inuits.
The pair could make assumptions about their footwear because shoes alter the way a person walks.
A rigid sole will mean the toes curl far less than when barefoot and less force is passed through the bones.
This meant that there were obvious differences in the three recent populations, according to the article in the New Scientist.
Mr Trinkaus said: "Modern shoe-wearing Americans have wimpy little toes. Barefoot native Americans have strong, large toes. Shoe-wearing Inuits lie somewhere in between."
The scientists found that the Tianyuan toe bones were most similar to the Inuits', indicating that the person regularly wore shoes.
Their study was first published in the Journal of Archaeological Science.
More in the Telegraph, and the aforementioned journals.
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