Anatomical Characteristics of the Pedal Skeleton Provide Insights into the History of Human Footwear

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Approaches to Archaeological Footwear" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

There is no footwear in nature—only hooves and soles. Protecting feet through artificial means is a human invention of relatively recent origin. The oldest direct evidence for footwear includes woven sandals and moccasins dating to the early Holocene. Inferences from footprints, decorative beads, and morphological analysis of phalanges suggest an earlier emergence of the practice. By exploring footprints and bones of the foot, researchers contend that footwear appeared in the Middle Paleolithic while humans became habitually shod by the Upper Paleolithic. Biomechanical and morphological analysis of the metatarsals show a significant decrease in bone robusticity, suggesting energy from walking is dispersed by footwear. Changes in the valgus angle are attributable to the constricting nature of footwear that prevents the toes from spreading and suggests the habitual use of footwear. In modern humans, there is a patterned geographic distribution of habitually shod individuals. In colder climates, individuals exhibit gracile metatarsals and phalanges consistent with the habitual use of footwear (e.g., Inuit mukluks). In warmer climates, humans retain robust phalanges, suggesting little or no use of footwear. We review the morphology of foot bones and determine what insights biological anthropologists can bring to bear on footwear in antiquity.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Approaches to Archaeological Footwear   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36321.0