The Ancient Birkenstock
Manolo says, many of the Manolo’s internet friends they have emailed the Manolo with the news of the discovery of another ancient shoe!
Perhaps it was left for symbolic reasons, or simply forgotten in the mud. Archaeologists said Tuesday they had found a 2,000-year-old shoe hidden in a hollow tree used to construct an ancient well near Wellington in southwest England.“As far as we know, this is the oldest shoe ever found in the United Kingdom,” said Stephen Reed, who led the team from Exeter Archaeology that made the find on the site of a modern day quarry. “It is reasonably well-preserved, with stitch and lace holes still visible in the leather.”
The shoe is being studied by conservationists in Salisbury, southwest England, and is expected to be displayed at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter.
This it is undoubtedly the very important discovery, however, the shoe itself, it is not what the Manolo would call the super fantastic.
Indeed does it not look like the Birkenstock, suitable for the wearing by the peasants of the mud?
May 10th, 2005 at 3:58 pm
It looks like the shoe which Annalucia once saw in a Viking museum in Yorkshire. That shoe was a mere thousand years old but it seems the style it did not change much over the first millennium. It was somewhat like a leather bag made for the foot, with long laces to keep it attached.
Thanks to Manolo for the article; the Annalucia loves both shoes and history and is happy to read about them in tandem. If the Manolo has photos of ancient Egyptian sandals or the superfantastic shoes of the Byzantine ladies, she will be happy to see those too.
May 10th, 2005 at 4:41 pm
Found in a hollow tree? Perhaps it is the most unattractive shoe of the ancient Keebler Elf.
May 10th, 2005 at 6:44 pm
So similar, it’s scary!
May 11th, 2005 at 4:22 am
Monolo- my feet hate shoes. The are happiest bare naked, in sand. My feet have no special issues; they are simply shoe challeneged. When forced to wear shoes they are Taryn Rose shoes. I never sank to Birkenstocks. That being said, I thoroughly enjoy your blog. Stop by everyday for a chuckle- and here’s the scary past: those brightly colored strappy sandals are looking better and better to me.
May 11th, 2005 at 8:56 am
Ah, but the Manolo well knows that the shoes one wears during the construction of a well are the functional, un-superfantastic shoes. But perhaps this ancestral well-digger knew full well the un-superfantasticness of his footwear, and at the end of the project, he wisely and with great flourish chucked his unlovely and unloved boots into a hollow tree, strapped on his dancing slippers, and ran off to the ball.
May 11th, 2005 at 11:04 am
It is the proof positive that just because people have been doing it for thousands of years, does not make it right.
La BellaDonna, like the AnnaLucia, is very fond of the historic shoes. Which is why she read the Vicki’s post, twice, and still thought the shoes the Vicki wears are the “Mary Rose” shoes!
*Blush*
May 12th, 2005 at 4:36 pm
Manolo, just as the Vicky before me, I too am a girl with simple taste in shoes. I like only to read and to laugh and to admire the pretty shoe.
But, never never never has The Desert Wind touched the Birkenstock.
The Simple New Original Clog, yes — The Birkenstock, no.
(I save up and visit you in a BIG GULp when Life has got me down. Thanks again)