The Oldest Leather Shoe
A Archeologists discovered in 2008 what is said to be the world's oldest known leather shoe. The 5,500-year-old shoe, some 1,000 years older than the Egyptian pyramids, was found by scientists excavating a huge cave, designated Areni-1, in Armenia near the border of Turkey and Iran. The shoe was part of a treasure trove of artefacts that experts say provide unprecedented information about an important and sparsely documented era: the Chalcolithic period or Copper Age, when humans are believed to have invented the wheel, as well as domesticating horses and producing other important innovations.
B Along with the shoe, the cave yielded horns and bones of wild goats and red deer, as well as broken pottery and evidence of what may be the oldest known intentionally dried fruits: apricots, grapes and plums. The cave, first discovered in 1997, appears to have been used primarily by powerful people of high status for keeping this Chalcolithic community's ritual objects, as well as their harvest during the winter months each year. But other people, probably acting as guards, seem to have lived in the front portion of the cave.
C One of the lead scientists excavating Areni-1, Dr Gregory Areshian of the University of California, Los Angeles, in the USA, said that the cave was also used by later civilizations, most recently by 14th-century Mongols, so he had assumed the shoe would be 600 to 700 years old. When separate laboratories at the University of Oxford in the UK and at the University of California at Irvine in the USA carbon-dated the leather to 3653 to 3627 BC, he said, 'We couldn't believe that a shoe could be so ancient.'
D Perfectly preserved under a layer of sheep dung and thus sealed in a stable, cool, dry environment, the shoe, 24.5 cm long, was made of a single piece of cowhide. This was cut into two layers and vegetable oil was applied, which was probably quite a new technology at the time. The pieces of leather comprising the shoe were joined using leather cords which ran along front and back, and these were threaded through numerous holes in the body of the shoe. Although shoes made at this time were probably not specifically designed for the right or left foot as are modern ones, the Areni-1 shoe was worn on the right foot. 'You can see the imprint of the big toe,' said another team leader, Ron Pinhasi of University College Cork in Ireland. 'As the person was wearing it and lacing it, some of the eyelets had been torn and replaced.' The shoe had been deliberately placed in the pit where the archeologists found it. Its bed had been carefully lined with yellow clay. The shoe had been stuffed with grass either to hold its shape or perhaps for warmth for the wearer.
E Protecting the foot was probably one of the main reasons people started wearing shoes, and this certainly seems the case for the Armenian leather shoe. According to Dr Areshian, the terrain around Areni-1 is very rugged and would have been difficult to walk on. Furthermore, shoes like this would have enabled people to cope with the extremes of temperature in the region - up to 45°C in summer and -10°C in winter - and to travel further. 'These people were walking long distances. We have found stones in the cave, which came from at least 120 kilometers away,' explained Dr Areshian.
F Manolo Blahnik, an expert on shoe design, says that 'The (Armenian) shoe's function was obviously to protect the foot, but I am in no doubt that a certain appearance of a shoe meant belonging to a certain tribe.' He adds that it was probably part of the clothing which the wearer used to distinguish their identity.
G Previously, the oldest known remains of a closed-toe leather shoe was one which belonged to Otzi the Iceman, a mummy found in the early 1990s in the Alps, near the Italian-Austrian border. That shoe, about 300 years younger than the Armenian shoe, had bearskin soles, deerskin sides and contained grass socks.
H Footwear even older than the leather shoes includes examples of sandals made of plant fibers which have been found in Missouri and Oregon in the USA. The wearing of some type of footwear, though, is almost certainly far older than the oldest shoes so far discovered. For example, an analysis of toe bones found in 40,000-year-old fossils in China indicates that people had been wearing some type of shoe at that date. Drs Pinhasi and Areshian think it is plausible that shoes as we know them today originated somewhere in the Near East, around Armenia. 'Many other inventions, such as wheel-thrown pottery, cuneiform writing and sheep-wool production evolved in the ancient Near East,' Pinhasi says. 'And so it is quite plausible that Armenia may give us the earliest clue to a "prototype" shoe, which later spread to other parts of the world.'
I Interestingly, the Armenian leather shoe found in Areni-1 is very similar to the 'pampooties' worn on the Aran Islands in the west of Ireland up to the 1950s. 'In fact, enormous similarities exist between the manufacturing technique and style of the Armenian shoe and those found across Europe at subsequent periods, suggesting that this type of shoe was worn for thousands of years across a large and environmentally diverse region,' said Dr Pinhasi.
The Evolutionary Mystery: Crocodile Survives
A Even though crocodiles have existed for 200 million years, they’re anything but primitive. As crocodiles’ ancestors, crocodilia came to adapt to an aquatic lifestyle. When most of the other contemporary reptiles went extinct, crocodiles were able to make it because their bodies changed and they adapted better to the climate. They witnessed the rise and fall of the dinosaurs, which once ruled the planet, and even the 65 million years of alleged mammalian dominance didn’t wipe them off. Nowadays, the crocodiles and alligators are not that different from their prehistoric ancestors, which proves that they were (and still are) incredibly adaptive.
B The first crocodile-like ancestors came into existence approximately 230 million years ago, and they had many of the features which make crocodiles natural and perfect stealth hunters: streamlined body, long tail, protective armour and long jaws. They are born with four short, webbed legs, but this does not mean that their capacity to move on the ground should ever be underestimated. When they move, they are so fast that you won’t even have any chance to try making the same mistake again by getting too close, especially when they’re hunting.
C Like other reptiles, crocodiles are poikilothermal animals (commonly known as cold-blooded, whose body temperature changes with that of the surroundings) and consequently, require exposure to sunlight regularly to raise body temperature. When it is too hot, they would rather stay in water or shade. Compared with mammals and birds, crocodiles have a slower metabolism, which makes them less vulnerable to food shortage. In the most extreme case, a crocodile can slow its metabolism down even further, to the point that it would survive without food for a whole year, enabling them to outlive mammals in relatively volatile environments.
D Crocodiles have a highly efficient way to catch prey. The prey rarely realises there might be a crocodile under the water because the crocodile makes a move without any noise or great vibration when spotting its prey. It only keeps its eyes above the water level. As soon as it feels close enough to the victim, it jerks out of the water with its wide open jaws. Crocodiles are successful because they are capable of switching feeding methods. It chases after fish and snatches birds at the water surface, hides in the waterside bushes in anticipation of a gazelle, and when the chance to ambush presents itself, the crocodile dashes forward, knocks the animal out with its powerful tail and then drags the prey into the water to drown.
E In many crocodilian habitats, the hot season brings drought that dries up their hunting grounds, leaving it harder for them to regulate body temperatures. This actually allowed reptiles to rule. For instance, many crocodiles can protect themselves by digging holes and covering themselves in mud, waiting for months without consuming any food or water until the rains finally return. They transform into a quiescent state called aestivation.
F The majority of crocodilia are thought to go into aestivation during the dry season. In a six-year study by Kennett and Christian, the King Crocodiles, a species of Australian freshwater crocodiles, spent nearly four months a year underground without access to water resources. Doubly labelled water was applied to detect field metabolic rates and water flux, and during some years, plasma fluid samples were taken once a month to keep track of the effects of aestivation regarding the accumulation of nitrogenous wastes and electrolyte concentrations.
G The study discovered that the crocodiles’ metabolic engines function slowly, creating waste and exhausting water and fat reserves. Waste is stored in the urine, becoming more and more concentrated. Nevertheless, the concentration of waste products in blood doesn’t fluctuate much, allowing the crocodiles to carry on their normal functions. Besides, even though the crocodiles lost water reserves and body weight when underground, the losses were proportional; upon emerging, the aestivating animals had no dehydration and displayed no other harmful effects such as a slowed-down growth rate. The two researchers reckon that this capacity of crocodiles to get themselves through the harsh times and the long starvation periods is sure to be the answer to the crocodilian line’s survival throughout history.
Memory Champions … or just good at tricks
A The Examinations School at Oxford University is where, last August, 34 contestants gathered at the World Memory Championships. It is an impressive historical venue, known for its austere yet grandiose setting of oak-paneled rooms, large Gothic windows, and looming portraits of eminent dukes and earls. It is here that generations of Oxford students have been tested in their final exams on their memory and knowledge, and it is here that these contestants were challenged to demonstrate their exceptional mnemonic abilities. Reciting poems, memorizing digit sequences, and recalling faces from photographs are just a few of the tasks that test the limits of human memory in this competitive setting.
B They are using a technique known as the loci method, reportedly originating in 477 BC with the Greek poet Simonides of Ceos. He was able to memorize the guest list at a dinner by closing his eyes and recalling each individual around the table. The loci method, which was rediscovered and popularized by Simonides, has become an integral part of historical and modern memory training. This method involves associating items to be remembered with specific physical locations, creating a mental map that facilitates recall. After Simonides's discovery, the loci method became widely embraced across ancient Greece, serving as a fundamental technique for orators and scholars. It was so effective that it was incorporated into educational curricula and became a cornerstone of rhetorical training. Aristotle wrote favorably about it, recognizing its value and effectiveness. Later, a number of treatises on the art of memory were published in Rome, further cementing its importance and utility in memory training. This method not only aids in memorization but also enhances the ability to retrieve information by navigating through these mental loci, effectively walking through a structured memory palace.
C One memory champion, Ed Cooke, can memorize the order of ten decks of playing cards in less than one hour or one deck of cards in less than one minute. Psychologists Elizabeth Valentine and John Wilding have teamed up with Eleanor Maguire to study how memory champions like Cooke operate differently from average individuals. Their collaboration aims to explore the neural underpinnings that might explain the exceptional memory skills exhibited by competitors in high-pressure environments such as memory championships. When the researchers analyzed the brain scans from the number memorization, they found that the memory champions were activating some brain regions that were different from those the control subjects were using. These regions are known to be involved in visual memory and spatial navigation.
D To enable himself to memorize quickly, Ed Cooke has memorized a specific human being, verb, and object that he associates with every card in the deck. This detailed and highly personalized system allows him to rapidly encode and decode information during competitions. When Cooke commits a deck to memory, he does it three cards in one go, with every three-card group forming a composite picture of a person doing something to an object. This method not only enhances the memorization process but also makes the recall process faster and more efficient. He then places those images along a specific familiar path in his mind, creating a vivid mental journey that he can easily traverse. When it comes to recall, Cooke takes a mental walk along his route and translates the images into cards, effectively and efficiently converting his vivid mental images back into the specific order of the deck. This innovative approach to memory exercises showcases the extraordinary capabilities of mental athletes and the sophisticated strategies they employ to achieve their remarkable feats.
E The term 'photographic memory' is frequently used to describe people with exceptional recall. Yet, most researchers agree there is no proof that such a memory truly exists. If it is indeed a myth, it highlights how learned strategies are often more effective than natural talent. The belief in 'photographic memory' remains a point of contention among the public and scientists alike. Despite the absence of solid scientific evidence, this myth endures, reflecting how society’s fascination with remarkable memory tends to ignore the practical techniques and training that genuinely drive mnemonic success.
F The most renowned of the naturals was the Russian journalist S.V. Shereshevski, who could remember long sequences of numbers learned decades before, as well as poems, strings of meaningless syllables, and nearly anything else he was asked to recall. Shereshevski also experienced synesthesia, a rare sensory condition where the senses are interconnected, which significantly improved his memorization ability. His skills were not limited to these accomplishments; his remarkable memory covered an almost endless range of information, making him a figure of great interest and study. This synesthetic trait not only made his memorization tasks easier but also more vivid and long-lasting. His case has been extensively examined, as it offers deep insights into the potential of human memory when enhanced by neurological variations.
G K. Anders Ericsson, a well-known psychologist, claims that anyone can develop memory abilities comparable to those of memory champions through consistent practice and proper techniques. During two years of experimentation, S.F. increased his ability to recall numbers from seven to over eighty. This study led Ericsson to conclude that there is no such thing as an innately superior memory. When he revisited original case reports of natural memorizers, he discovered that their remarkable abilities were actually based on the use of specific techniques — sometimes unconsciously — combined with extensive practice. Strategists are usually outstanding at remembering only certain kinds of material, whereas naturals exhibit strong memory across many types of tasks and can retain those memories more easily.