Shoes

Ötzi’s shoes are some of the oldest ever found. Some great ideas went into making them: The soles are made of warm bearskin, whilst the uppers are made of strong cowhide.

An inner shoe is attached to the sole. The inner shoe is made of a netting woven from plant fibres, or more exactly bast, the inner part of tree bark. Finally, hay was stuffed into the space between the inner and outer shoes to keep out the cold and wet.

The right shoe was well preserved on the Iceman’s foot when he was found. Only the bast netting and a few fragments of hide remained of the left shoe.