World's oldest snowshoe found on a glacier in Italy's Dolomites

Scientists in Italy’s Dolomite mountains have unveiled what they believe to be the world’s oldest snowshoe.

Carbon-dating has shown that the rudimentary snow shoe, made of birch wood and twine, was made in the late Neolithic age, between 3,800 and 3,700 BC.

“It is the oldest snowshoe in the world so far discovered, dating to around 5,800 years ago,” scientists said in a statement.

It was discovered by chance at an altitude of 3,134 metres (10,280ft) on the Gurgler Eisjoch glacier, close to Italy’s border with Austria.

The ice and freezing temperatures of the glacier had provided “ideal conditions for the preservation of organic material,” the researchers said.

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.

I think you misunderstood me. Extremely old spearheads from the paleolithic period, around 10,000 years old, are not that unusual when looked at in the context of how common they are. So no big deal. Many hundreds have been found that date back to the Clovis culture, 10,000 to 12,000 years old, maybe thousands. So it’s not a big deal when one that old is found. Ditto for those from the archaic period, literally thousand have been found. Even a large one over 3 inches long is not uncommon.

To someone who has never seen one, of any kind, a find of a small “bird point” as they are called, no more than 1000 years old would be an amazing thing, and a big deal. These really small projectile points were actually used for everything, including large game and warfare, but due to their size, often under an inch long, are commonly called bird points. But even one of those would be considered quite a find, as was the first one I ever found, about 2 inches long. I was quote impressed. Now, that would be...no big deal...

By contrast, the rarity of such an old snowshoe would be considered a big deal, especially since nobody realized such a thing was in use at that period in time. Being found in such a rugged area is pretty significant too.

A similar thing would be finding an artifact of any type in an uncommon location or the first one of its type ever found.

I realize to someone who has never found anything of this nature, any find at all would be a big deal, my comment was made in the context of people who are very familiar with this area of research and know that ancient tools and projectile points are actually among the most common artifacts found, at least in American archaeology. And therefore not really a big deal. This snowshoe, by contrast, is pretty amazing.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.