Archaeologists revealed the world’s oldest snowshoe that was discovered in the Dolomites. The find is believed to have been created in the Neolithic between 3800-3700 BC.

The dating of the object, stating it was created 5800 years ago, was provided through radiocarbon analysis. The discovery was made on the Gurgler Eisjoch glacier, near the border between Italy and Austria. The shoe consist of an oval-shaped birch-wood frame, roughly 33 centimetres in diameter, with strands of twine tied across it. The discovery was made on the altitude of over 3100 metres by a cartographer named Simone Bartolini, from Italy’s Military Geographical Institute, who was mapping the border with Austria.

The discovery is said to have been made in 2003, but the cartographer kept it to himself, not knowing how old the object was. Last year, after passing it to an archaeologist, the true date of creation of the snowshoe was revealed. The find is a testimony to the specialised equipment of the people from Neolithic period living in the Alps.

(after Seeker & The Telegraph)