Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (18.2006(2008))

NAQLUN

EGYPT

FOOTWEAR FROM CEMETERY C
AT NAQLUN. PRELIMINARY REPORT*

Dorota Dzierzbicka

The exploration of Cemetery C at Naqlun
brought the discovery of a pair of boots,
a pair of ankle-shoes and a pair of sandals. All
of them were found as part of adult male
burials (T. 005, 007, and 010) on cemetery C
(see above, reports by W. Godlewski and I.
Zych in this volume). The uncovered
footwear was made entirely of leather.1
BOOTS (Nd.06.493) [Fig. 1 A, B]
Left boot: H. 21 cm, L. 27 cm
Right boot: H. 26 cm, L. 24.2 cm
The pair was found intact on the feet of the
deceased in burial T. 005. Both shoes were
in a very good state of preservation; only the
front half of the sole and the toe of the left
boot was missing. Consequently, construc-
tion details were difficult to determine,
especially since the upper is closed. More-
over, the leather that the boots were made of
was considerably deformed, dry and brittle,
making a study of technical aspects difficult
without risking damage to the preserved
substance. The boots were turn-shoes,
meaning they were sewn inside out and
turned over, making the seams invisible on
the outside. Some idea of the structural
details and stitching patterns was provided
by the damaged sole of the right boot.

Each of the boots has the upper made of
a single large piece of leather cut to the
desired shape. The pieces are of roughly
similar dimensions in both boots (right:
30 x 20 cm, left: 30 x 24 cm). The tops of
the quarters were rounded off to form
a semicircle when viewed from the side and
V-shaped in the front and back. The uppers
were wrapped around the foot and calf, and
stitched to the sole. In the back the edges of
the leather were not sewn together, but left
open (Montembault 2000: 74-75, Class XI
type B).2
The left boot is tied round with a knot-
ted string of vegetal fibre, while the right
boot has a leather strip tapering towards the
ends (34.5 cm in length, 2.2 cm at
maximum width) tied at the ankle in the
front of the foot with a reef knot
(Veldmeijer 2006: 337-366).
The soles are waisted and their heels
have tapering, pointed extensions in the
back, which rise up and are sewn into
inverted Y-shaped cut-outs in the quarters.
The only threading visible from the outside
is in the back of the left boot where the sole
forms a point above the heel. It appears that
a leather thong was passed through four awl
holes punched through the tapering

* I am indebted to Dr. Andre J. Veldmeijer for his advice and remarks on this material.
1 Identifying the species of animal from which the leather was obtained requires technical analyses that were impossible
to carry out under field conditions.
2 A close parallel from the Louvre collection but in a much poorer state of preservation - no. 137, provenance and dating
unknown (Montembault 2000: 210-211); another possible parallel is no. 147 (Montembault 2000: 218).

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