Shoes

Ten thousand years of footwear, from Fort Rock sagebrush sandals to carbon-plate supershoes.

11 posts· 8500 BCE – 1673

• Louis XIV's red heels: when footwear was a court credential 1673
• The chopine, or how Venice balanced status on a fifty-centimetre platform 1550
• The poulaine, or how a pointed toe became a matter for Parliament 1340
• The turnshoe, or how medieval cordwainers sewed the seam inside 1100
• Han dynasty silk shoes, or the hierarchy sewn into every sole 100 CE
• Roman caligae, or why the empire marched on hobnails 100 BCE
• Greek krepis and kothornos — the shoe as theater 458 BCE
• Egyptian papyrus sandals — footwear as social code, c. 1500 BCE 1500 BCE
• Ötzi's shoes, or the engineering in a glacier 3300 BCE
• The Areni-1 shoe, and the art of making leather last 3500 BCE
• Fort Rock sandals, the oldest shoes in the world 8500 BCE