We were very fortunate at the Zueberbueler shelter, in the large volume of sandals recovered. But it was the two sets that were recovered that help turn speculation into fact. Only two of these sets were recovered out of approximately 500 sandal samples. Not many you may say, but then they may well be the only sets in any museum. How lucky can you get, we say? It is the display of the straps in use that is the great value here. We now know that the wearer may have made his adjustments two ways. On many his option was to adjust the heal strap behind the heal. One location and one task. But on others he selected to make the fit improvements by adjusting the heal strap at the side of the foot. Here two adjustments were made, one on each side. Why so many old sandals? It is clear their time was very short when it came to wear. It is the personal opinion of the curator that these early samples of foot wear were for home use only. Not expected to survive the rigors of the canyon rocks. Some evidence of their short life was the opening of an old baby bed. These little shelters for the young, were common at the site, the future had frequently been that of a trash can. One had yielded a total of 14 used sandals. Sounds like my wastebasket, as I try to write this paper.
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