Great Basin Sandals- Fort Rock Cave, OR

---

Institution: Museum of Natural and Cultural History- U. of Oregon

State: Oregon

Object: Shoe

Era: Paleoindian Period

---

Fort Rock sandals are some of the oldest shoe types in the world. Over 100 pairs of sandals were found in Fort Rock Cave was under a layer of ash, which was caused by a volcanic eruption in 7400 BP. This particular style of sandal is found throughout the northwestern Great Basin and most recently in Idaho.

Great Basin sandals are made from plant fibers and constructed using a various twining techniques that allowed breathability. Overall, sandal were secured with a cord, but styles varied based on how they were wrapped around the ankle.

The Great Basin would later be settled by Northern Paiute tribe around 1000 A.D.

Shop American Artifacts

Buy on Amazon

---

More Prehistoric Artifacts

---

Sources:

• Ollivier, Aaron P. Evaluating gaps in the radiocarbon sequences of northwestern Great Basin sandals. Diss. 2016.

• Connolly, Thomas J., and Pat Barker. "Great Basin Sandals." The Great Basin: People and Place in Ancient Times, School for Advanced Research Press, Santa Fe, NM (2008): 68-73.

• Ollivier, Aaron P., Geoffrey M. Smith, and Pat Barker. "A collection of fiber sandals from last supper cave, Nevada, and its implications for cave and rockshelter abandonment during the middle Holocene." American Antiquity 82.2 (2017): 325.

---