The Earliest Shoes

Erik Trinkaus and Hong Shang are arguing that humans first started wearing shoes regularly around 40 000 years ago. An article in Yahoo News notes:

A previous study of anatomical changes in toe bone structure had dated the use of shoes to about 30,000 years ago.

Now the dainty-toed fossil from China suggests that at least some humans were sporting protective footwear 10,000 years further back, during a time when both modern humans and Neandertals occupied portions of Europe and Asia.

Well, at least they are not stumbling around the landscape, like Erik said a few years ago. Sheesh.