Editing Snowshoe (section)

===Origins===
[[File:Snow Shoe Maker between ca. 1900-1930.jpg|thumb|upright|Traditional snowshoe maker, c. 1900–1930]]
Before people built snowshoes, nature provided examples. Several animals, most notably the [[snowshoe hare]], had [[evolution|evolved]] over the years with oversized feet enabling them to move more quickly through deep snow.{{citation needed|date=July 2023}}

The origin and age of snowshoes are not precisely known, although historians{{who|date=July 2023}} believe they were invented from 4,000 to 6,000 years ago, probably starting in [[Central Asia]].<ref name="refGvsnowshoes">{{cite web|url=http://www.gvsnowshoes.com/eng/hist_raq.html|title=Raquettes GV – Fabricant de raquettes à neige|work=Raquettes GV|access-date=2009-01-08|archive-date=2009-02-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090213093745/http://gvsnowshoes.com/eng/hist_raq.html|url-status=live}}</ref> [[United Kingdom|British]] [[archaeology|archaeologist]] [[Jacqui Wood]] hypothesized that the equipment interpreted to be the frame of a backpack of the [[Chalcolithic]] [[mummy]] [[Ötzi]] was actually part of a snowshoe.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/court_and_social/the_hitch/article516866.ece|title=The Times – UK News, World News and Opinion|access-date=2008-08-02|archive-date=2019-12-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191218032027/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Strabo]] wrote that the inhabitants of the [[Caucasus]] used to attach flat surfaces of leather under their feet and that its inhabitants used round wooden surfaces, something akin to blocks, instead. However, the "traditional" webbed snowshoe as used today had direct origins to North American Indigenous people, e.g., the Huron, Cree, and so forth.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.snowshoemag.com/2012/06/17/snowshoes-and-the-canadian-first-nations/|title=Snowshoes and the Canadian First Nations|work=Snowshoe Magazine|date=17 June 2012|access-date=10 February 2016|archive-date=29 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160129233135/http://www.snowshoemag.com/2012/06/17/snowshoes-and-the-canadian-first-nations/|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Samuel de Champlain]] wrote, referencing the Huron and Algonquin First Nations, in his travel memoirs (V.III, p.&nbsp;164), "Winter, when there is much snow, they (the Indians) make a kind of snowshoe that are two to three times larger than those in France, that they tie to their feet, and thus go on the snow, without sinking into it, otherwise they would not be able to hunt or go from one location to the other".