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What's Older Than the Pyramids and Smells Worse Than a Mummy?


WestVirginiaRebel

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WestVirginiaRebel
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Fox News:

What were the fashion-conscious cave-dweller wearing 5,500 years ago? Archaeologists may just have found out.

A perfectly preserved shoe, 1,000 years older than Egypt's Great Pyramid and 400 years older than Stonehenge, has been found -- buried in sheep dung in a cave in Armenia.

The 5,500 year-old shoe was discovered by a team of archaeologists in a cave in the Vayotz Dzor province of Armenia, on the Iranian and Turkish borders. The shoe is the oldest piece of leather footwear in the world, a fact that came as a shock to the discoverers.

"We thought initially that the shoe and other objects were about 600-700 years old because they were in such good condition," said Dr. Ron Pinhasi, an archaeologist with Ireland's University College Cork. "It was only when the material was dated by the two radiocarbon laboratories in Oxford, U.K., and in California, U.S. that we realized that the shoe was older by a few hundred years than the shoes worn by Otzi, the Iceman."

Otzi the Iceman was a well-preserved mummy found in an Austrian glacier in 1991, also wearing shoes. Otzi's shoes were surprisingly complex, said one Czech academic at the time. "I'm convinced that even 5,300 years ago, people had the equivalent of a cobbler who made shoes for other people," Petr Hlavacek, a footwear expert from Tomas Bata University in Zlin told The Telegraph.

The newly found cow-hide shoe -- cut and shaped from a single piece of leather -- dates to approximately 3,500 BC and are in stunningly perfect condition, thanks to the cool and dry conditions in the cave -- and the fact that its floor was covered by a thick layer of sheep, dung which acted as a solid seal over the objects. The cave also housed large containers, many of which held well-preserved wheat and barley, apricots and other edible plants.

The shoe contained grass, although the archaeologists were uncertain as to whether this was to keep the foot warm or to maintain the shape of the shoe -- a precursor to the modern shoe-tree perhaps? Pinhasi couldn't determine whether the shoe belonged to a man or a woman. While small (approximately a woman's size 7), "the shoe could well have fitted a man from that era," he noted.

The shoe was discovered by Armenian student Diana Zardaryan in a pit that also included a broken pot and sheep's horns.
________

That is a really, really old shoe...
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I thought that this was another Helen Thomas thread... :huh:

LOL..you stole my post.

Rheo!

 

Does this mean that you're as "bad" as me... or I'm as "bad" as you? :unsure:

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shoutWestVirginiaRebel

 

shoutNCTexan, you are channeling me.

:lol:

 

This article is as shallow as Shep Smith's eye brows are high.

 

"A perfectly preserved shoe"... "The newly found cow-hide shoe -- cut and shaped from a single piece of leather -- dates to approximately 3,500 BC and are in stunningly perfect condition"

 

How perfect is stunningly perfect? Imagine a male burrito maker matched up with a female hand bag designer, both drunk, it's dark, and they're making or doing something illegal.

 

Here is the result of their union:

 

 

 

 

Otzi the Iceman was a well-preserved mummy found .... Otzi's shoes were surprisingly complex, said one Czech academic at the time.

 

Why do people always assume that if something is old, it couldn't be complex? Johnston & Murphy weren't the first to determine that walking on a piece of leather is cheaper than paving the entire world in leather.

 

"I'm convinced that even 5,300 years ago, people had the equivalent of a cobbler who made shoes for other people"

 

If he didn't make shoes for other people, he wouldn't be a cobbler, now would he? I bet they had bread bakers, too. Even ship builders. The idea that there were craftsmen 5,300 years ago must be foreign concepts to some. Maybe they thought hundreds of thousands of people just sat around, waiting for Obama.

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I thought that this was another Helen Thomas thread... :huh:

LOL..you stole my post.

Rheo!

 

Does this mean that you're as "bad" as me... or I'm as "bad" as you? :unsure:

 

You guys are both awful. I saw where Rheo said she was subtracting three of my posts for every one I posted. Like I can't read or sumpin'....

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Why do people always assume that if something is old, it couldn't be complex? Johnston & Murphy weren't the first to determine that walking on a piece of leather is cheaper than paving the entire world in leather.

Yea Pepper!

 

But they didn't have these back in the Pyramid days. They hadn't progressed this far!

 

SpikeHeels.jpg

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NCTexan!

 

EEEEEEEEEUUUUUUUWWWWWWWWW

 

Yes, as we progress, we regress. That is for sure.

 

 

 

Is that B as in B for Barack?

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pollyannaish

Has anyone ever carbon-dated Helen? Cause I saw the picture and read the headline....and I'm with you guys! :lol:

Edited by pollyannaish
Maybe that should read: has anyone ever dated Helen...but either way...
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WestVirginiaRebel

When Robert Byrd heard about the shoe, he said, "So that's where I left it!" But when he saw the title of the story, he thought it was about him at first.

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