Everybody knows that boat shoes are a fashion classic. Turns out that they are based on a design idea that’s been around for far longer than anyone thought!

Archaeologists digging in an Armenian cave have recently discovered an extraordinarily well preserved leather shoe that dates back more than 5000 years. Crafted like a moccasin and about the size of a modern woman’s size 7 shoe, it’s one of the oldest known piece of footwear in the world.

The Forerunner of Leather Deck Shoes?

One of the things that surprises its discoverers — apart from the fact that it has survived intact over the millennia — is how familiar its construction seems to be. Just as the inspiration for modern leather deck shoes is the soft design of the moccasin, made from a single piece of material that wraps around the foot and laced at the seams, so this ancient shoe seems to have been made from two layers of tanned hide that fitted around the foot.

It’s a shoemaker’s technique that today is sometimes called “whole cut” — a premium manufacturing process that can command high prices too.

Experts have been struck by how much the shoe resembles traditional Balkan footwear that is still worn in regional dress celebrations — showing how much tradition has been passed down from generation to generation.

As with many of the world’s oldest artifacts, sheer luck seems to have played a large part in its preservation. As this shoe was made of leather, one would have expected it to decompose very quickly. But as chance would have it, it was left in a cave which was sealed by layers of sheep dung, which allowed the interior of the cave to remain cool and dry.

Scientists who have examined the find have concluded that it was a very practical piece of footwear for both the climate and the terrain of the region. The area in which the cave was located has rough ground covered with sharp stones, and a climate with high temperatures in the summer ranging down to subzero in the winter. Signs that the shoe had been used for a great deal of walking without having been worn through gives further evidence of its practicality.

There’s also speculation that the shoe style was important — even 5000 years ago. Studies suggest that footwear might have been an indicator of which tribe the wearer belonged to, just as later moccasins could be a distinguishing mark of tribal identity.

Some are even going so far as to propose that this design represents a prototype shoe which went on to be adopted throughout Europe and the rest of the world. We may never know all the secrets about how and why this ancient leather shoe was worn — but it’s fascinating to imagine a link between the fashionable boat shoes worn by men and women today and this chance discovery from a bygone civilization.