Investigating the Morphology of Shod Footprints: An Experimental Approach.

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Footprints and Footwear" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The archaeological record for ancient shoes is minimal, due to their organic composition and therefore perishable nature. Comparatively, fossil footprints have a better record of preservation. Therefore, to ascertain the longevity of footwear, the best chance of doing so is through the identification of shod footprints. Here, an experimental approach was used to investigate the morphology of shod footprints by recreating examples of ancient footwear and testing these in sandy substrates with different moisture conditions. The results of these experiments demonstrate that a woven jute twine sandal will obscure the natural features of the foot and will imprint the shape of the shoe, whereas a supple leather moccasin will only blur the natural features of the foot at best, leaving a foot shape that will remain visible in the impression. Using these results will allow us to identify shod footprints in the ichnological record much earlier than the archaeological record for ancient footwear, using the footprints as a proxy for ascertaining when footwear appeared.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• Footprints and Footwear

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 50662