Scientists say pair of sandals discovered in Spanish bat cave are 6,000 years old, Europe's oldest shoes
Scientists have found what they believe are the oldest pair of sandals ever found in Europe, dating them at over 6,000 years old, among dozens of other items that were discovered in a bat cave system in southern Spain. Researchers with the Universidad de Alcalá and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona said that the discoveries were the first direct evidence of basketry among hunter-gatherer societies and early farmers in Southern Europe . The objects were discovered in Cueva de los Murciélagos de Albuñol in Granada, Spain. Among the discoveries were baskets, sandals and organic tools once associated with early Neolithic farming communities. By studying the raw materials and using technology, the researchers believe that the items from the cave were from the early and middle Holocene period, between 9,500 and 6,200 year ago. Francisco Martínez Sevilla, a researcher in the Prehistory Department of the University of Alcalá, said in a press release that the discovered objects "ma...