Remarkable! 2,000-year-old child's shoe with intact laces found in Austria

Archaeologists in Austria have made an extraordinary discovery, unearthing a child's shoe dating back over two millennia (2,000 years) that still boasts its original laces.The leather shoe, believed to be from the second century BC and roughly equivalent to a modern EU 30 (US 12), was found at the site of Dürrnberg in western Austria. This area has a history of rock salt mining dating back to the Iron Age, according to a recent statement by the German Mining Museum Bochum-Leibniz Research Museum for Geo-resources, media reports said.

Preserved by salt

The remarkable preservation of the shoe can be attributed to the rock salt deposits in the region, known for their exceptional ability to protect organic materials.

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Professor Thomas Stoellner, head of the Research Department at the German Mining Museum, expressed his astonishment at the shoe's condition, saying, "Our research activities at Dürrnberg have been providing us with valuable finds for decades in order to scientifically explore the earliest mining activities. The condition of the shoe found is outstanding."

Lives of iron age miners

The ongoing excavations at Dürrnberg aimed to dig up more details on the lives and work of Iron Age miners, as per the museum.The shoe was discovered alongside other organic remains, including a fragment of a wooden shovel blade and remnants of fur with lacing, possibly part of a fur hood.

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The laces of the shoe were identified as likely made from flax or linen, as per the statement.

The discovery of a child's shoe held particular significance as it indicates the presence of children in the underground mining operations. The museum said that finding the child's shoe is"always something special."

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Stoellner added, "Organic materials generally decompose over time. Finds like this child's shoe, but also textile remains or excrement like those found on Dürrnberg, offer an extremely rare insight into the life of Iron Age miners."

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