Evidence of the use of soft footwear in the Gravettian cave of Cussac (Dordogne, France)

Abstract Humans appear to have regularly worn footwear since at least the Early Upper Palaeolithic. However, due to the perishable nature of footwear, the archaeological record of its presence during the Pleistocene is poor. While footwear would have played an essential role in protecting the foot,...

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Autores principales:	Lysianna Ledoux, Gilles Berillon, Nathalie Fourment, Xavier Muth, Jacques Jaubert
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/7b1215577a384561a2028bd60934e288
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:7b1215577a384561a2028bd60934e2882021-11-28T12:19:39ZEvidence of the use of soft footwear in the Gravettian cave of Cussac (Dordogne, France)10.1038/s41598-021-02127-z2045-2322https://doaj.org/article/7b1215577a384561a2028bd60934e2882021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-02127-zhttps://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Humans appear to have regularly worn footwear since at least the Early Upper Palaeolithic. However, due to the perishable nature of footwear, the archaeological record of its presence during the Pleistocene is poor. While footwear would have played an essential role in protecting the foot, it could also have been used as ornamentation and/or as a social marker. Footprints may provide the most relevant insight regarding the origin and function of footwear. Here we report the discovery of footprints in Cussac Cave (southwest France) at 28–31 ka cal BP and the results of a multi-focal approach, including experimentation, that demonstrate that Gravettian people most likely wore footwear while moving through the cave. These singular footprints would constitute one of the oldest cases of indirect evidence for this unusual practice in decorated Palaeolithic caves and reinforce the exceptional nature of Cussac already attested by the presence of monumental engravings and funerary deposits.Lysianna LedouxGilles BerillonNathalie FourmentXavier MuthJacques JaubertNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-10 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Lysianna Ledoux Gilles Berillon Nathalie Fourment Xavier Muth Jacques Jaubert Evidence of the use of soft footwear in the Gravettian cave of Cussac (Dordogne, France)
description	Abstract Humans appear to have regularly worn footwear since at least the Early Upper Palaeolithic. However, due to the perishable nature of footwear, the archaeological record of its presence during the Pleistocene is poor. While footwear would have played an essential role in protecting the foot, it could also have been used as ornamentation and/or as a social marker. Footprints may provide the most relevant insight regarding the origin and function of footwear. Here we report the discovery of footprints in Cussac Cave (southwest France) at 28–31 ka cal BP and the results of a multi-focal approach, including experimentation, that demonstrate that Gravettian people most likely wore footwear while moving through the cave. These singular footprints would constitute one of the oldest cases of indirect evidence for this unusual practice in decorated Palaeolithic caves and reinforce the exceptional nature of Cussac already attested by the presence of monumental engravings and funerary deposits.
format	article
author	Lysianna Ledoux Gilles Berillon Nathalie Fourment Xavier Muth Jacques Jaubert
author_facet	Lysianna Ledoux Gilles Berillon Nathalie Fourment Xavier Muth Jacques Jaubert
author_sort	Lysianna Ledoux
title	Evidence of the use of soft footwear in the Gravettian cave of Cussac (Dordogne, France)
title_short	Evidence of the use of soft footwear in the Gravettian cave of Cussac (Dordogne, France)
title_full	Evidence of the use of soft footwear in the Gravettian cave of Cussac (Dordogne, France)
title_fullStr	Evidence of the use of soft footwear in the Gravettian cave of Cussac (Dordogne, France)
title_full_unstemmed	Evidence of the use of soft footwear in the Gravettian cave of Cussac (Dordogne, France)
title_sort	evidence of the use of soft footwear in the gravettian cave of cussac (dordogne, france)
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/7b1215577a384561a2028bd60934e288
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Evidence of the use of soft footwear in the Gravettian cave of Cussac (Dordogne, France)

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