The shoe dates back 5,000 years to the so-called “Horgen” culture, according to the Zurich building authorities in a statement on Tuesday.
The shoe is a “prime example of the ingenious manufacturing of Neolithic clothing”, says the statement. It is made out bast, a material rarely used today and made out of the deeper layers of certain types of tree barks.
The statement added that the recovery and subsequent conservation of the fragile find was a very lengthy and complicated process. The pristine appearance of the shoe was highly unusual.
“It’s a miracle that a textile object so ancient remained unaffected by natural decomposition and could be preserved in such good condition,” it concluded.
Train vs plane: would you take a direct train between London and Geneva?
Eurostar is planning to run direct trains from Britain to Germany and Switzerland from the early 2030s. Would you favour the train over the plane? If not, why not?
Swiss price watchdog negotiates lower fees for card payments
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Small businesses in Switzerland will have to pay fewer fees for cashless payments from customers over the next few years.
Lakes in Central Switzerland have best water quality for bathing
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Anyone who swims in a lake in Central Switzerland need have no fear of infection from intestinal bacteria. The water samples taken at 65 bathing sites in 13 lakes all have good to excellent bathing water quality.
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Unknown assailants have stolen a historic ring from a Basel museum. The stolen item was a gift from Russian Tsar Alexander I to his host in Basel in 1814.
More May hotel guests in Basel than at any time in past 90 years
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Basel hotels recorded 150,854 overnight stays for the Eurovision Song Contest in May. This corresponds to a year-on-year increase of 8.4%.
Demand remains high for rental flats in Switzerland
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More rental flats are once again being advertised on property portals in Switzerland. However, demand also remains very high.
One in five Europeans exposed to too much traffic noise
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More than one in five Europeans are exposed to unhealthily high levels of traffic noise, according to the European Environment Agency (EEA).
New living space through densification often comes at expense of the poor
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If demolition and new construction are carried out and tenants have to make way, low-income households are affected more often than average.
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The ceasefire in the Iran-Israel war has visibly eased tensions on the financial markets. The SMI, Switzerland's leading stock market index, has risen above the 12,000 point mark again.
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Is Swiss town Chur one of world’s oldest?
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The Swiss town of Chur claims it’s at least 11,000 years old. If true, that would make it as old or older than Jericho in the Middle East.
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Scientists from the Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research at Bern University say there’s a chain of evidence supporting a theory that shepherds living in southwestern Switzerland around 5,000 BC drove their herds to pastures situated at around 2,750 metres above sea level in the Alps. “We have strong indications that argue that people were…
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An international research team led by York and Newcastle universities studied residues found on small pieces of pottery dating from the Neolithic times to the Iron Age. They found that the residue on shards from the 1st Millennium BC – the Iron Age – had the same chemical signatures associated with heating milk from animals…
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If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.