Discovered Bronze Age shoe in Norway still in great condition

CAIRO – 8 June 2022: Norway's oldest shoe is 3,000 years old from the Bronze Age, and is just one of thousands of ancient artifacts that have been recovered from the country's melting mountain ice patches in the past two decades, according to a new report from the University of Science and Technology, Norway.

Artifacts recovered from Norwegian ice patches are often in good condition, showing minimal disintegration and deformation even after thousands of years of frozen hibernation. This is because ice patches are relatively stable, immobile, and free from corrosive compounds.

Scientists found completely intact weapons, clothing, textiles and the remains of plants and animals, helping to highlight thousands of years of Norwegian history, Live Science reports. In just a few decades, vast swaths of Norway's ice began to melt, exposing undiscovered artifacts to almost certain degradation.

The 3,000-year-old shoe is still an outstanding find, and belongs to a woman or a young man. The shoe was discovered alongside several arrows and a wooden shovel, indicating that the site was an important hunting ground.

Dating back to around 1100 BC, the shoe is not only the oldest in Norway, but probably the oldest piece of clothing ever discovered in Scandinavia.