Ancient Armenian Attire

Without pics it is difficult to get a feel for this story, but I can't wait to see what they dug up. Archaeologists report that they found the remains of a dress in Armenia. Multicoloured and made of straw, the dress is believed to be about 5,900 years old, according to Pavel Avetisian, director of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology at Armenia's Academy of Sciences. The presumption is that it belonged to a woman. This is from the same site that identified the world's oldest known leather shoe and most ancient winery. The dating of the dress was conducted by the University of California who are also restoring the dress.

Source: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/entertainment/8302445/ancient-straw-dress-found-in-armenian-cave

Ireland: Bagged up Bog Body

A bog body was found part-buried in a leather bag in Portloaise by Bórd na Móna diggers yesterday - saved in the nick of time from the machine cutters by a keen-eyed employee. Now removed for study at the National Museum, the remains are believed to be 3000 years old. Chemicals in the surrounding peat preserved the exposed legs and leather bag, but the torso, head and arms that were covered in the leather bag did not survive. The area surrounding the remains has provided a number of exciting archaeological finds in recent years, including an axe heads, shoes and bog butter.

Read RTÉ's story here, including more pics.

World's Oldest Shoe

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1285331/Is-world-oldest-shoe-5-000-year-old-leather-laced-boot-cave-Armenia.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

A 5,000-year old leather shoe, found in Armenia, may be the oldest shoe ever found.

This item does not seem to be decorated, so would appear to have been purely functional,

The excellent preservation (including the lace) is due to the unusual conditions of the cave where it was buried (along with pots of food and a child's skeleton).