Oldest welted shoe?

[Tangfastic]

I've been aware of this object for a few years, but only now have thought about putting it to the scrutiny of SF's shoe experts. Gentlemen, I give you: THE TRIASSIC SHOE-SOLE

[FONT=Arial,Helvetica]Fossilized Shoe-Sole, embedded in Triassic Mud, [/FONT] [FONT=Arial,Helvetica]found by Albert E. Knapp in Pershing County, Nevada.[/FONT] THE photograph and description of this interesting fossil was sent me by Mr. John T. Reid of Lovelock, Nevada. It was found by Mr. Albert E. Knapp, near Fisher Canyon in Pershing County, Nevada. Mr. Knapp writes me under date of January 15th, 1917, as follows:"” "In descending the hill my attention was attracted by the fossil, which lay fossil side uppermost amongst some loose rocks. I picked it up and put it in my pocket for further examination, and on such examination came to the conclusion that it is a layer from the heel of a shoe which had been pulled from the balance of the heel by suction; the rock being in a plastic state at the time. I found it in LIMESTONE OF THE TRIASSIC PERIOD, a belt of which runs through that section of the hills." Mr. Reid took the relic with him to New York, and had it analyzed by a competent geologist of the Rockefeller Foundation, who verified Mr. Knapp and pronounced it unquestionably TRIASSIC LIMESTONE. Micro-photographs were made which showed very clearly that it bore a minute resemblance to a well-made piece of leather, stitched by hand, and at one time worn by a human foot. The photographs showed the stitches very plainly; at one place it was double-stitched, and the twist of the thread could be clearly seen. The thread is smaller than any used by shoe-makers of today. Minute crystals of sulphide of mercury are to be noticed throughout the spaces of this fossil shoe-sole, these minerals having been deposited in the long ago by waters which carried them in solution. In this fossil we have another link in the chain of evidence carrying man back to the "Age of Dinosaurs" in the Triassic Period. On page 10 we have a picture of a dinosaur, drawn by a human hand, under the direction of an intelligent human brain, presumably done in the Triassic Period when dinosaurs were still extant. Here we have more evidence of human workmanship in the form of a piece of fossilized leather, neatly stitched, and embedded in TRIASSIC MUD. There are whole races of primitive men on Earth today, utterly incapable of etching that picture or sewing that moccasin. What becomes of the Darwinian Theory in the face of this evidence that there were intelligent men on Earth millions of years before APES are supposed to have evolved? http://www.creationism.org/swift/Doh...Supplement.htm There are other more rational (though disappointingly mundane) interpretations out there, I posted the most credulous reading I could find..

 

[Teacher]

My grandpa has some Florsheims that are probably fairly close to being that old.

 

[Steve Smith]

That is an example of an "out of place artifact". Google that term and you can find some interesting stuff.

 

[imatlas]

That ROCKS!

 

[Nil]

I'm going to go ahead and discount whatever explanation creationism.org came up with.

 

[Tangfastic]

Originally Posted by Steve Smith

That is an example of an "out of place artifact". Google that term and you can find some interesting stuff.
I first read about it in Cremo and Thompson's Forbidden archaeology, a great source for that sort of thing. There's a more sceptical discussion here... http://www.badarchaeology.net/data/ooparts/fisher.php I was hoping a shoe expert would be able to tell from the poor quality photograph if it bore any more than the passing resemblence to a welt that I can see.

 

[imatlas]

"Today's people on the earth are not yet able to make this kind of shoe. Facing this kind of evidence indicates that at the time of suspected uncivilized arthropods, millions of years ago, people with high intelligence appear to have existed...".

The Elder Things wore shoes? Who knew?

 

[Steve Smith]

I have seen the rest of that fossil. The other part clearly shows "Florsheim Royal Imperial" in a cursive script. That company has been around for a long time.

 

[Salad]

Originally Posted by Steve Smith

I have seen the rest of that fossil. The other part clearly shows "Florsheim Royal Imperial" in a cursive script. That company has been around for a long time.

But shouldn't the V cleat be visible?

 

[Steve Smith]

Originally Posted by Salad

But shouldn't the V cleat be visible?

They lacked the ability to refine metal back then so the wooden V-cleats tended to wear away very quickly.