Editing Shoe (section)

====Earliest evidence====
The earliest known shoes are sagebrush bark [[sandal]]s dating from approximately 7000 or 8000 BC, found in the [[Fort Rock Cave]] in the [[United States|US]] state of [[Oregon]] in 1938.<ref name="Connolly_Tom">{{cite web|last=Connolly|first=Tom|title=The World's Oldest Shoes|url=http://pages.uoregon.edu/connolly/FRsandals.htm|publisher=[[University of Oregon]]|access-date=July 22, 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120722013744/http://pages.uoregon.edu/connolly/FRsandals.htm|archive-date=July 22, 2012}}</ref> The world's [[Areni-1 shoe|oldest leather shoe]], made from a single piece of cowhide laced with a leather cord along seams at the front and back, was found in the [[Areni-1 cave complex]] in [[Armenia]] in 2008 and is believed to date to 3500 BC.<ref name="Ravilious_Kate">{{cite news|last=Ravilious|first=Kate|title=World's Oldest Leather Shoe Found—Stunningly Preserved|url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/06/100609-worlds-oldest-leather-shoe-armenia-science/|access-date=July 22, 2012|newspaper=[[National Geographic (magazine)|National Geographic]]|date=June 9, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120724020516/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/06/100609-worlds-oldest-leather-shoe-armenia-science/|archive-date=July 24, 2012}}</ref><ref name="Petraglia_Michael">{{cite journal|last1=Petraglia|first1=Michael D.|author2=Pinhasi R|author3=Gasparian B|author4=Areshian G|author5=Zardaryan D|author6=Smith A|title=First Direct Evidence of Chalcolithic Footwear from the Near Eastern Highlands|journal=PLOS ONE|volume=5|pages=e10984|year=2010|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0010984|editor1-last=Petraglia|editor1-first=Michael D.|issue=6|pmid=20543959|pmc=2882957|display-authors=etal|bibcode=2010PLoSO...510984P|doi-access=free}} Reported in (among others) {{cite news|last=Belluck|first=Pam|title=This Shoe Had Prada Beat by 5,500 Years|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/10/science/10shoe.html|access-date=11 June 2010|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=9 June 2010|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100611103130/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/10/science/10shoe.html|archive-date=11 June 2010}}</ref> [[Ötzi the Iceman]]'s shoes, dating to 3300 BC, featured brown bearskin bases, deerskin side panels, and a bark-string net, which pulled tight around the foot.<ref name="Ravilious_Kate" /> The [[Jotunheimen shoe]] was discovered in August 2006: archaeologists estimate that this leather shoe was made between 1800 and 1100 BC,<ref name="Nesje Pilø Finstad Solli ">{{cite journal | last1=Nesje | first1=Atle | last2=Pilø | first2=Lars Holger | last3=Finstad | first3=Espen | last4=Solli | first4=Brit | last5=Wangen | first5=Vivian | last6=Ødegård | first6=Rune Strand | last7=Isaksen | first7=Ketil | last8=Støren | first8=Eivind N. | last9=Bakke | first9=Dag Inge | last10=Andreassen | first10=Liss M | title=The climatic significance of artefacts related to prehistoric reindeer hunting exposed at melting ice patches in southern Norway | journal=The Holocene |  volume=22 | issue=4 | date=2011 | issn=0959-6836 | doi=10.1177/0959683611425552 | pages=485–496| s2cid=129845949 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.norwaypost.no/index.php/culture/13871 "Old Shoe- Even Older".] ''The Norway Post'', 2 May 2007. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308201631/http://norwaypost.no/index.php/culture/13871 |date=8 March 2016 }}</ref> making it the oldest article of clothing discovered in Scandinavia. Sandals and other plant fiber based tools were found in [[Cueva de los Murciélagos]] in [[Albuñol]] in southern Spain in 2023, dating to approximately 7500 to 4200 BC, making them what are believed to be the oldest shoes found in Europe.<ref name="Science Advances">{{cite journal|title=The earliest basketry in southern Europe: Hunter-gatherer and farmer plant-based technology in Cueva de los Murciélagos (Albuñol)|journal=Science Advances|volume=9|issue=39|doi=10.1126/sciadv.adi3055|date=27 Sep 2023|author=Francisco Martínez-Sevilla|pages=eadi3055 |pmid=37756397 |pmc=10530072 |bibcode=2023SciA....9I3055M |display-authors=etal|doi-access=free}}</ref>

It is thought that shoes may have been used long before this, but because the materials used were highly perishable, it is difficult to find evidence of the earliest footwear.<ref name="Johnson_Olivia">{{cite news|last=Johnson|first=Olivia|title=Bones Reveal First Shoe-Wearers|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4173838.stm|access-date=July 23, 2012|newspaper=[[BBC News]]|date=August 24, 2005|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120603011525/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4173838.stm|archive-date=June 3, 2012}}</ref>

[[Footprints]] suggestive of shoes or sandals due to having crisp edges, no signs of toes found and three&nbsp;small divots where leather tying laces/straps would have been attached have been at [[Garden Route National Park]],  [[Addo Elephant National Park]] and [[Goukamma Marine Protected Area|Goukamma Nature Reserve]] in [[South Africa]].<ref name="Helm Lockley Cawthra De Vynck ">{{cite journal | last1=Helm | first1=Charles W. | last2=Lockley | first2=Martin G. | last3=Cawthra | first3=Hayley C. | last4=De Vynck | first4=Jan C. | last5=Dixon | first5=Mark G. | last6=Rust | first6=Renée | last7=Stear | first7=Willo | last8=Van Tonder | first8=Monique | last9=Zipfel | first9=Bernhard | title=Possible shod-hominin tracks on South Africa's Cape coast | journal=Ichnos | date=2023| volume=30 | issue=2 | issn=1042-0940 | doi=10.1080/10420940.2023.2249585 | pages=79–97| bibcode=2023Ichno..30...79H | s2cid=261313433 }}</ref> These date back to between 73,000 and 136,000 BP. Consistent with the existence of such shoe  is the finding of [[Bone tool|bone awls]] dating back to this period that could have made simple footwear.<ref name="Helm Lockley Cawthra De Vynck " />

Another source of evidence is the study of the bones of the smaller toes (as opposed to the big toe); it was observed that their thickness decreased approximately 40,000 to 26,000 years ago. This led [[archaeologist]]s to deduce the existence of common rather than an occasional wearing of shoes as this would lead to less bone growth, resulting in shorter, thinner toes.<ref name="Trinkaus_Erik">{{cite journal|author1=Trinkaus, E. |author2=Shang, H. |title=Anatomical Evidence for the Antiquity of Human Footwear: Tianyuan and Sunghir|journal=Journal of Archaeological Science|date=July 2008|volume=35|issue=7|pages=1928–1933|doi=10.1016/j.jas.2007.12.002|bibcode=2008JArSc..35.1928T }}</ref> These earliest designs were very simple, often mere "foot bags" of leather to protect the feet from rocks, debris, and cold.