2019-07-13_Archaeology_Magazine

archaeology.org 17

MEDIEVAL BABY BOOTIE

A

leather fragment of a late fourteenth-

century child’s shoe was recovered during

rescue excavations beneath the cobbled

streets of Saint-Ursanne, Switzerland. Preserved

in waterlogged soil, the ankle boot likely belonged

to a child of about one year old, and would have

been fastened with leather button clasps. Although

the shoe’s style was common for the period, says

Marquita Volken of the Lausanne Shoe Museum,

its decorative technique is very rare. The intricate

geometric and foliage patterns were created by

scraping away the leather grain to form a suede-

like surface, rather than punching or stamping the

designs, as was usual. “Such a pretty little shoe for

a baby probably meant the same as it would today,”

says Volken. “We want our children to look cute—

even if the shoes aren’t needed for walking.”

—Benjamin Leonard

Leather

baby boot

January 2019 to April 2021

Key Marco Cat photo courtesy Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution (A240915)

180 S Heathwood Dr, Marco Island, FL | 239.252.1440 | colliermuseums.com

Frozen in time for an estimated 500 to 1,500 years until discovered on

Marco Island during an 1896 archaeological expedition, the enigmatic

Key Marco Cat and other rare Pre-Columbian Native-American artifacts

return home for a major exhibit at the Marco Island Historical Museum.

@mihs