Chalcolithic leather shoe from the Areni cave

The photograph shows a leather shoe of the Chalcolithic (Eneolithic) period, held by a person wearing white gloves. A lace is visible along the upper part of the shoe.

Archaeologists found it in Armenia, in the Areni cave. It is a right shoe made from a single piece of cowhide. It was filled with grass, and specialists are not sure whether this was to keep the feet warm or to preserve the shape of the shoe. It is also unknown whether it belonged to a man or a woman. At first the shoe was thought to be 6–7 centuries old, but an examination by 2 radiocarbon laboratories in Oxford showed that it is 5,500 years old. According to Pavel Avetisyan, director of the Institute of Archaeology of Armenia, it is the oldest shoe found in the Old World. It closely resembles the Armenian “charukh” shoe.