About Antiques
The oldest antique objects till now
Apr
Our planet Earth is some 4.5 billion years old, with humankind only been living on the Earth for 200,000 years. Nonetheless, each has left legacies that scientists around the world are still discovering. Who wouldn’t want to wear the oldest footwear? From an old instrument to an ancient mask, we have made a list of some old antique objects that would keep you spellbound.
- Oldest leather shoe
A well-preserved shoe was found in a cave in Armenia and a vast collection of other Copper Age artifacts. This 5500-year-old moccasin-like shoe was eventually reported to be the earliest example of footwear ever found. Like the boots, it was made today’s designer from cowhide leather and rubbed with vegetable and plant oil. The shoelaces were similar to modern sneakers, crisscrossed through a set of holes.
The shoe was approximately a women’s size seven and was most likely custom-made for its owner’s right foot, who was most likely a wealthy person based on the high degree of craftsmanship.
- Oldest ancestral masks
Nine stone masks discovered in Israel’s Judean hills are considered to be about 9,000 years old. The masks, which are usually between 11 and 12 inches tall, are thought to have been used in early farmers’ significant ancestral rituals. In 7,000 BC during the early agriculture era, as there were no known means of writing, these traditional masks were thought to have been the only evidence that farmers used to own land.
The farmer’s father, grandfather, or great-grandfather’s facial imprint, for example, will have been able to show that they share the same physical characteristics in the face as the land’s previous owner.
- The oldest purse studded with dog teeth.
The oldest purse in the world was discovered in Germany, and its owner had a keen sense of Stone Age fashion. Excavators have uncovered what they claim to be the world’s oldest handbag, a Stone Age purse dated between 2,500 and 2,200 BC, adorned with over 100 canine teeth.
The remarkable discovery – the first of its kind – was made in a grave on a 250-acre excavation site near Leipzig, Germany, part of an ancient burial ground. According to archaeologist Susanne Friederich, the teeth were most likely used as accessories for a handbag’s outer flap. The dog teeth were discovered during excavations at Profen, a 250-acre (100-hectare) site that was into an open-pit coal mine in 2015. Canine teeth are reasonably common in central European burials and Stone Age northern burials, considering the dog-tooth handbag’s rarity.
The ancient Neanderthal flutes
In 2012, researchers discovered what is now considered to be the world’s oldest musical instrument. The two flutes, made of bird bone and mammoth ivory, were carbon-dated to be about 43,000 years old. They were discovered in a southern German cave and are now considered early evidence for modern humans’ colonization of Europe.
Some scientists claimed that our forefathers, the Homo Sapiens, had a range of advantages over their Neanderthal counterparts that gave them the upper hand and made them survive modern days. Music may have been one way that Homo Sapiens socialized and developed societies that encouraged collaboration and resource sharing. Music may have aided in the maintenance of broader social networks, allowing our species to extend its territories at the cost of more conservative Neanderthals.
- Cairo toe: the oldest prosthetic in the world
A fake toe was discovered with Egyptian mummies buried 3,000 years ago and is now thought to be the oldest prosthetic tool globally. The false toe, made of leather and wood, was buried with a woman who lived between 950 and 710 B.C. It seems to have been more of a functional walking aid than a prosthetic, according to scholars. Researchers from the University of Manchester built a replica of the wooden toe. They found volunteers with missing toes to try it out in sandals identical to those worn in ancient Egypt. Based on the data obtained by pressure sensors, it was concluded that an ancient Egyptian missing a big toe would have had a tough time walking normally in conventional sandals.
