Archaeologists from the University of Oregon (UO) will be returning to the site of the 1938 discovery of the oldest known footwear in the world. Fort Rock Cave in northern Lake County is famous for dozens of approximately 10,000-year-old sagebrush bark woven sandals that were found there by the “Father of Oregon Archaeology” Luther S. Cressman, who was on the UO faculty from 1929 until his retirement in 1963. Scheduled for Aug. 31-Sept. 4, archaeologists will follow up on Cressman’s investigations. Cressman discovered the sandals beneath a layer of volcanic ash produced by the 7600-year-old eruption of Mt. Mazama – the same eruption that created Crater Lake. The age of the sandals was confirmed in the 1950s through radiocarbon dating. In 1966, Cressman returned to the site with graduate student Stephen Bedwell who uncovered a hearth in Pleistocene (Ice Age) gravels. Charcoal from the fire pit was radiocarbon dated to roughly 15,800 years before present, the oldest reputed hearth in Oregon.
