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WEEKLY NEWS 1: Footwear and Feet

Look down at your outfit. There's one part of it that's similar across the world: shoes. Shoes for every occasion and season, and in every color and style, find their way into almost every culture. From sandals to ski boots, shoes have made their mark on our feet.

The oldest pair of shoes in existence is 9,000 years old. However, many scientists believe that humans began wearing shoes much earlier. Tens of thousands of years ago, people living in colder climates may have worn shoes to protect their feet. However, no one could find shoes older than 9,000 years old.

Recently, in the Journal of Archaeological Science, Professor Trinkaus revealed his newest theory. Since shoes change the bones in our fee, Professor Trinkaus examine tarsal, metatarsal, and phalanges (the bones in the feet) on a timeline. With this type of examination, Professor Trinkas was able to discover when humans first plunged into the shoe industry. The four toes next to the big toe became weaker and less flexible when humans wore shoes. Instead of using all of our toes to grip the ground, we only needed to use our big toes and the soles of the shoes; the other toes became delicate from disuse. Consequently, between 40,000 and 26,000 years ago, human toes became weaker (except for the big toes) than their ancestors’ toes.

Because of this research, we now know when humans probably started to wear shoes.

--Written by Katheryn Troyer

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