In 1797, the merchant ship Sydney Cove was taking water. Despite furious bailing, Captain Hamilton knew his ship was doomed. He beached it on the north-east coast of Tasmania.
The optimistically named Sydney Cove was loaded with cargo for sale in the fledgling colony. It included crockery, chickens and even a horse, but mostly it carried alcohol that would be traded by John Macarthur and the Rum Corps.
What they did not have was a supply of sturdy shoes.
Since nobody knew they were there, their only hope was the long trek to Port Jackson, 600 kilometres away.
A party of 17 men achieved the first ever crossing of Bass Strait in the ship's longboat to the mainland to begin their walk. Without proper shoes, one can picture what a hellish exercise it was, and only three made it.
The human foot is an odd device. Able to climb trees, swim, kick and walk long distances, yet it's remarkably vulnerable. You almost certainly wouldn't consider trekking across rocky ground or the nasty spines of many grasses without shoes.
Shoes are so ubiquitous, we'll never know for sure where they originated. Almost certainly, they first appeared in many times and places.
The oldest known examples date back to approximately 7000 to 8000 BCE, at a cave in Georgia where archaeologists found what appear to be the remnants of leather shoes.
At other sites, they uncovered ancient examples made from plant fibres.
By 3000 BCE, footwear became common in Mesopotamia and Egypt, where they made sandals from reeds and palm leaves. They were minimal affairs that offered protection in a warm climate.
Other intriguing evidence has been found in fossil tracks on a beach in South Africa. They show what look like shoe prints from as long as 150,000 years ago.
MORE ASK FUZZY:
In Oregon people wore woven footwear in the cold marshes and lakes where they hunted for fish and birds, or harvested bulrushes. Their sandals were woven from sagebrush bark that helped keep their feet warm, even when soaked.
Still, it seems not all ancient people wore shoes.
Bare 20,000-year-old footprints preserved in Lake Mungo reveal people crossing a muddy flat. One of them appears to have been a very tall man sprinting, presumably hunting.
It's hard to imagine how humans can navigate harsh ground without some footwear, especially for the vulnerable soles. Are thick calluses enough to protect them from sharp spines?
The appearance of shoes and other technologies such as clothes and fire raises a big question for our little column: has technology affected human evolution?
Was the invention of clothing a factor in us losing our fur, and how has cooking with fire affected our digestive system? We may never know for sure.
The Fuzzy Logic Science Show is at 11am Sundays on 2xx 98.3FM.
Send your questions to AskFuzzy@Zoho.com; Podcast: FuzzyLogicOn2xx.Podbean.com
