5,000-year-old sandal found near Constance

German archaeologists have uncovered an amazingly well-preserved 5,000-year-old sandal in mud under Lake Constance, or Bodensee, close to the Swiss border, authorities said Tuesday.

Published: 11 March 2009 07:44 CET

5,000-year-old sandal found near Constance

An ancient sandal or modern beef jerky? Photo: DPA

The Stone Age footwear – European size 36 (UK size four) – was made of wood and dates back to around 2,900 BC, Stuttgart city council said.

“Even in the Stone Age, Lake Constance was the best place to live,” quipped Johannes Schmalzl, head of Stuttgart’s city council, who presented the find.

The sandal is of similar archeological significance to fragments of clothing once worn by Ötzi, the 5,000-year old man whose frozen body was discovered in a glacier in the nearby Alps in 1991, he added.