Minister Courtney

@histories_arch Wouldn't radiocarbon dating place a creation date for The RAWHIDE MATERIAL ITSELF around 300ce, not the sandal it was used to build? Like, wouldn't radiocarbon dating some wood scrap from an old chair tell us the age of the wood and not a construction date for the chair?

A local hiker in Norway spotted an old sandal peeking out of the snow in August 2019. He snapped a few photographs of the find and shared its coordinates with Secrets of the Ice, a glacial archaeology program that has previously unearthed 1300 year-old wooden skis, a 1700 year-old tunic and thousands of other artifacts preserved in Norway’s glaciers and ice patches. The hiker’s message arrived just in time for the team to safely recover the sandal. Racing to beat a snowstorm scheduled to blanket the area, the researchers spent a full day excavating the shoe and other nearby objects, The very next day, a fresh coat of snow covered the site. Radiocarbon dating placed the shoe’s creation around 300 CE. The size nine rawhide sandal is a variant of the Roman carbatina style, which was popular across Europe in the same general time period. To combat the cold, the sandal’s owner likely wore it with wool wrappings or socks made out of fabric or animal skin. And the traveler probably didn’t lose the shoe, instead, he may have thrown it away as rubbish after it became worn out. Roman-inspired sandal is one of several centuries-old shoes found near the Lendbreen pass in Norway’s Jotunheim Mountains. Objects uncovered from the melting ice testify to the pass’ significance as a travel route between Roman Iron Age (around 300 CE) and the Middle Ages. Like its better-known neighbor, the Horse Ice Patch was a key passage for ancient travelers. Its trails linked inland Norway to the coast. © Secrets of the Ice #archaeohistories