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5500-year-old world’s oldest shoe has been exhibited in the State History Museum of  Armenia for two weeks already, the director of the museum Anelka Grigoryan told Panorama.am. According to her, the museum provides all the conditions necessary for the preservation of the shoe: 30 degrees humidity and sufficient light.

All those interested in the ancient times, bronze age, archaeology, in general, show interest in the shoe. “Lots of people come to see the exclusive exhibit,” A. Grogoryan said.

A cave in Areni, in the Armenian province of Vayots Dzor yielded the shoe, due to the three factors necessary for its preservation: stable temperature, the cave was dry and the shoe had a solid cover.

California University Professor Grigori Areshyan, co-chair of the team carrying out excavations in Areni cave, said once that the shoe was completely flexible when they found it while now it has become harder and lost flexibility. “The shoe is made from organic materials and has a problem of preservation. If it continues this way, we could guess, that it will crack within 5-7 years and in some 15 years we will have no shoe at all,” he said.

According to him, the restoration of the shoe is not that hard as for the preservation of such findings for long years there are several methods in the world.