A collection of baskets and sandals found inside a bat cave in Granada, in southern Spain, were likely crafted by Mesolithic hunter-gatherer societies and are considered some of the oldest artifacts of their kind found in southern Europe, a new study finds.
Researchers determined that the grass sandals were 6,200 years old, making them the oldest known shoes ever found in this part of Europe. The baskets, also made of grass, were even older, at roughly 9,500 years old, and are the"first direct evidence" of baskets being made by Mesolithic, or Middle Stone Age, hunter-gatherers, according to a statement.
"Some of the baskets also had leather pieces that were used for hanging them up," Martínez-Sevilla said."The craftsmanship was very complex."