Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1981, Síða 245

A pair of Hide Shoes
253
The same type of shoe is represented in a find from a bog on the
small island Tautra, near Molde, where a pair of shoes was found
at a depth of 25 cm.15) They, too, consisted of separate soles and
uppers, stiched together with closely set stitches; the shoe was tied
around the ankle by means of thongs and laces.
Both these shoes belong to a type which we may call low-cut, low
shoes, a type which represents a development of the primitive type
represented by the Leksvik shoes. Perhaps we should here add that
our differentiation between more or less highly developed forms of
footwear need not necessarily represent a corresponding difference
in time. In fashion, as in so many other aspects of cultural life, pri-
mitive and highly developed forms are often found side by side.
The low-cut, low shoe, of the type represented by the Orten and
Tautra finds, probably developed during the latter part of the Iron
Age from the simple shoe made from one piece of hide. It was still
in use early during the Middle Ages, being represented, for instance,
among the earliest Swedish finds of shoes. These, which came to
light at Sigtuna, date from the first half of the eleventh century. It
does not seem possible to date the Orten and Tautra shoes more
closely than POUL NØRLUND has done: the end of the pre-
historic period or, at the very latest, the beginning of the Middle
Ages.16)
The few Norwegian finds discussed here do not provide any pos-
sibility for relating the Leksvik shoes to a larger context. But if
we turn to the considerably more comprehensive Danish material,
we can with much greater clarity discern certain main lines in the
development of footwear, and these also throw some light on the
Leksvik find.
A predecessor of the shoes with soles, as we know them from the
Viking Age and the Middle Ages, may be seen in the sandal-like shoes
with plaited uppers from the great find from the Thorsbjerg Mose
bog. Most of this find dates from the third century AD.17) The Thors-
bjerg shoes are cut from one piece of hide, and they are stitched to-
gether behind the heel. Their most characteristic feature, however,
appears in the uppers, which are cut into thin straps in a way highly
reminiscent of Roman sandals. It is, in fact, generally assumed that