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Discovery of World's oldest snowshoe
Tuesday 13 September 2016

An article by Nick Squires on the telegraph.co.uk - World's oldest snowshoe found on a glacier in Italy's Dolomites - reports that scientists in Italy's Dolomite Mountains have unveiled what they believe to be the world's oldest snowshoe.

Discovery of World's oldest snowshoe

Carbon-dating has shown that the snow shoe, made of birch wood and twine and preserved in the ice and freezing temperatures, was made in the late Neolithic age, between 3,800 and 3,700 BC. making it almost 6,000 years old.

It was discovered by chance at an altitude of 3,134 metres on the Gurgler Eisjoch glacier, close to Italy's border with Austria.

The shoe, which consists of an oval-shaped frame with strands of twine tied across it, was found by Simone Bartolini, a cartographer from Italy's Military Geographical Institute, who was mapping the border with Austria. He discovered it back in 2003 and kept it as a curiosity. Last year he presented it to archaeologists to study.

The discovery was made close to where the frozen, mummified remains of a Neolithic hunter - Oetzi - were found by two German hikers 25 years ago.

 
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Dr Catrin Marzoli, the director of the province's cultural heritage department, states that the shoe is evidence that people in the Neolithic period were living in the Alps area and had equipped themselves accordingly.

The shoe will be put on display at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano.

The discovery was made close to where the frozen, mummified remains of a Neolithic hunter - Oetzi - were found by two German hikers 25 years ago.


Read more about Oetzi:

Iceman's wardrobe revealed by DNA
http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/news/archaeology.php?id=Iceman-s-wardrobe-revealed-by-DNA

Otzi the Iceman reveals clues on Human Migration
http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/news/origins.php?id=Otzi-the-Iceman-reveals-clues-on-Human-Migration

The voice of Otzi the Iceman
http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/news/archaeology.php?id=The-voice-of-Otzi-the-Iceman

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