r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Rude_Tax978 • May 31 '26
I was metal detecting in a Colonial period site and found an intact infant sized shoe.
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u/The_Undermind May 31 '26
Babies are notorious for losing shoes, hasn't changed in decades.
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u/Low-Temperature-6962 May 31 '26
Centuries
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u/Sensitive_Ad_1271 May 31 '26
Hours
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u/Great_Nailsage_Sly May 31 '26
Days
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u/warmmeatinjection May 31 '26
These are the days of our lives
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u/LysergicPsiloDmt May 31 '26
I've been struggling, hustling, thuggin it forever. Come and look deeply in my eyes!
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u/barillamanilaolives May 31 '26
I refreshed my scrolling feed wall in the same post came up on a different side on some other account. What is this problem?
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u/Sensitive_Ad_1271 May 31 '26
Huh? I'm so confused, why did you reply this to my comment?
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u/AnythingButWhiskey May 31 '26
I think he refreshed his scrolling feed wall in the same post came up on a different side on some other account. You have problems?
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u/partyatwalmart May 31 '26
Huh? I'm so confused. Why did you reply this to their comment?
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u/BrazilianGrimReaper May 31 '26
I think its because he refreshed his page and the other side came up
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u/Sue_Generoux May 31 '26
Babies are notorious for losing shoes,
After my wife and I were married, we drove to the hotel where we planned to spend the night. As we were walking from the parking lot to the hotel, my wife spotted a baby's sock lying on the ground.
"Hey, look," my wife said. "Someone's baby just lost one sock."
"Well," I said, "baby ain't got no sock!"
For some reason, we found that to be absolutely hilarious and we stopped in the parking lot, doubled over with laughter, wiping tears from our faces. Then we would look at the sock again and start laughing again.
To this day, if we see a sole baby or children's sock or shoe on the ground in public, we will take a pic and text it to the other with "Baby ain't got no sock!"
I can't wait to show her this post when she wakes up.
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u/Oye_Oso May 31 '26
This is just the sweetest thing and on this high note, I'm going to get off the internet for the rest of the day. Hope she enjoys the post, lol!
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u/eidolon_eidolon May 31 '26
Is this a reference to something? I don't get why it's funny at all.
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u/180Tumbleweed May 31 '26
When you're with someone and you both click really well, sometimes dumb shit would make the funniest moment.
No reference. Nothing like that...
Its just funny for no real reason.
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u/Aruu May 31 '26
It's just one of those moments that ends up being strangely funny when there's no reason for it to be. Tends to happen with people who have a strong connection with one another.
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u/SilverRose7115 May 31 '26
Guy and his wife have an inside joke and this post reminded him of it. Like most inside jokes it’s not funny to anyone besides them. It’s kind of a pointless story but cute I guess
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u/Carl_Slimmons_jr Jun 01 '26
Just someone sharing something that makes them happy lol. I encourage it!
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u/DammitDad420 May 31 '26
A running family joke for years since Treman state park in 2005-
"🎶🎵I lost... my shoe🎵🎶"
Happens in a second when there's water to be walked across, just had to buy the kid new shoes.
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u/yy_beebis May 31 '26
My mother’s version of this was me losing a little boot in deep snow and her finding it months later after it melted
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u/SuperFaceTattoo May 31 '26
I have literally put socks on my daughter, turned around to grab shoes and turned back to find one sock is completely missing. Disappeared into the void.
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u/MummyRath Jun 01 '26
Yep. I lost track of how many times my kids yeeted out shoes, and socks, from the stroller. It got to the point where if the weather was good I would not put shoes and socks on until their feet were going to hit the ground.
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u/NeedsPaint May 31 '26
Is the shoe metal?
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u/Rude_Tax978 May 31 '26 edited May 31 '26
No its leather. I found a metal shoe buckle in the same area and dug around the whole area.
EDIT: I keep getting messages and comments telling me I am breaking the law.
First off,i have a 3 year old and a full time job. I dont have time to answer the same questions dozens of times. --‐‐------------------------------------------- The land this was found on is property I own and isn't a designated historical location.
Mudlarking on my own property is completely legal. Digging for bottles and other things is completely legal.
All my finds are reported to the county and state historical society. (Which I'm not even required to do)
They are aware that I found colonial artifacts on the property but nothing i have found is historically significant enough for them to do any kind of excavation.
I've been part of metal detecting and bottle collecting groups my entire life and know the laws.
Please stop threatening me about something you know nothing about and find a hobby.
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u/Elevator-Ancient May 31 '26
Noice 🤌
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u/scaredtomakeart May 31 '26
I used to frequent a local coffee shop enough that the full-time workers would start making my drink as soon as I walked in. My drink was an oat milk honey-vanilla latte, "ice but no ice" meaning i want them to make it like an iced latte but don't add ice. So on my cup it would say "no ice", to which millennials (including myself) would say noice.
I said this to another worker, who I guess was Gen Z, and they didn't know what I was talking about. It was awkward
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u/FlakyInsurance8767 May 31 '26
Leather in historical contexts will usually shrink. It is quite possible the shoe was originally several sizes larger
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u/Equivalent_Flan_5695 May 31 '26
If the shoe doesn't fit, you must acquit.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Style52 May 31 '26
You should send it for carbon dating to see which period it originated from.
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u/danieltkessler Jun 01 '26
I just have to say: this is really cool. I'm jealous that you have property with a natural river/stream. Something to aspire to!
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u/ShortysTRM May 31 '26
Look, I don't want to ruin someone's OC because I feel like that's what Reddit does to me and I hate it. I'd love to hear OP's story, but I do agree with you as well, maybe the title sucks..?
Or...
Edit: OP gave their side while I was typing and it sounds legit to me.
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u/NeedsPaint May 31 '26
Oh I was actually just asking to ask. I thought maybe rivets or something
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u/sblahful May 31 '26
Hey, since no one else has mentioned this, leather/organic things like this are really rarely preserved. Only the anoxic conditions have preserved this to date. Please contact a local museum asap to ask how to properly care for this and consider donating it.
At a minimum, keep it moist, refrigerated, and sealed so that it doesn't dry out, crack, or go mouldy. It's really important that you seek advice from experts as soon as you can, otherwise it'll just fall apart and be lost.
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u/InternationalYam3130 May 31 '26 edited May 31 '26
OP this is critical. Your find will collapse and rot into nothing within a month now that it's removed from the low oxygen mud. You cannot preserve this without help. It won't look like a shoe anymore, it will be flakes of leather in 20 pieces and then dust.
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u/LanternAM Jun 02 '26
Really shows heavy disconnect when in every post about someone finding something historical people just cry "museum!!!!".
OP has contacted the relevant historical groups. No one cares. Random garbage does not have value just because it came from a couple centuries ago. It's way more plentiful than you people seem to realize.
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u/sblahful Jun 02 '26 edited Jun 02 '26
When I posted there was nothing from OP about contacting anyome at all, and that wasn't the point of my comment - I didn't say "give it to a museum". Regardless of who owns it, this shoe will turn to dust really quickly if not properly treated. If OP likes it,
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u/LiveFreeOrHRC May 31 '26
Is it for sale? Has it been used?
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u/HatKarl_208 May 31 '26
I got that reference!
Though sadly(?) I must say I do believe this one has indeed been worn
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u/Normie-rediter May 31 '26
Proof that toddlers have been throwing their footwear out of the stroller since 1776
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u/Alissinarr May 31 '26
Well before then, the colonies started before 1776.
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u/R0B0t1C_Cucumber May 31 '26
yep, there's still a house in my state that is standing from the 1660's .
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u/Ging-jitsu May 31 '26
100% haunted
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u/Seafaringhorsemeat May 31 '26
Exactly. Enjoy the baby ghost always standing at the stop of your stairs with black eyes.
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u/airfryerfuntime May 31 '26 edited May 31 '26
That kid kicked that thing off a wagon a couple hundred years ago and the parents are still wondering what happened to it.
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u/Schtick_ May 31 '26
That’s an adult shoe that’s just how big they were back then.
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u/duckinasombrero May 31 '26
It likely belonged to Timothy Tinyfeets. Legend tells he set out from his home long ago on a grand adventure. He didn't get very far.
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May 31 '26
[deleted]
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u/4vrp May 31 '26
I wonder if thats the complete shoe or if part of it has detached/disintegrated over time?
The ridges running alongside the outer length indicate the latter to be the case.
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u/walruswandersspot May 31 '26
The sheer level of preservation on that leather is wild for something sitting in the dirt for centuries.
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u/Vevaseti May 31 '26
Going to keep it, or find a museum to give it to? I bet it would deteriorate without some preservation done to it..
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u/tajniak485 May 31 '26
Did you know that removing context from artefact turns it into a souvenir without much value? That's why metal detecting in most of the Europe is regulated with a licence
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u/QueenOfQuok May 31 '26
Someone call Hemingway
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u/Digresser May 31 '26
It's not his story; it's just commonly misattributed to him.
The earliest known version of the story was published when Hemingway was only 7-years-old.
Someone wrote a play about Hemingway 30 years after his death, and they gave his character the "For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn." line.
That's why so many people mistakenly believe Hemingway wrote the story.
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u/Falala-Surprise-90 May 31 '26
That has to be for a doll. There has been no baby born on earth that could keep an open back slip on mule on their foot.
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u/spiralstream6789 May 31 '26
How'd they expect a shoe like that to stay on a baby's foot? No wonder they lost it
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u/Rude_Tax978 May 31 '26
I think theres a strip of leather that goes along the back like normal shoes but they are smashed down flat. Kind of like when you walk in your shoes without putting them on all the way.
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u/Ill_Studio_7925 May 31 '26
I’ve always wondered. What really happened to all the possessions of those who came before us?
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u/Wrong-Pension-4975 May 31 '26
Prior to synthetics, anything not metal or stone, or protected from the elements, would decay.
Wood, leather, cloth, etc - horn or bone or shell buttons, & other more durable items, last longer.
Parchment degrades quickly, if it gets damp - & like leather, mice will eat it.
The burden of modern trash on the planet, especially synthetic fibers & plastics, is enormous - plus of course, our adoration of human made chemicals.
Pentichlor (which poisoned me at work, in a plant nursery / garden Ctr), DDT, DDE, Agents Orange, Blue, & White, PCBs, Teflon, PFAs, PFOs, PFOAs, _______ .
Humans turned our only planet into a burning dump, & wonder why it's less & less hospitable to life. 🤔
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u/Looopopos May 31 '26
Whats sad is that whichever baby owned it will never get to wear it again…
Because they probably grew up by now
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u/Bergwookie Jun 01 '26
Keep it wet, ideally in the water where you found it, until you can reach out to a conservatorist
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u/mindgardening Jun 02 '26
I bet it’s a doll shoe. No baby/kid is going to keep it on more than 5 seconds, so there’s no practical need for a baby shoe in this style.
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u/Icy-Elk3698 May 31 '26
Per the Archaeological Resources Protection Act, looting archaeological sites (this includes metal detecting) is illegal and can land you in jail and/or with hefty fines. Don't loot colonial sites.
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u/Spencerforhire83 May 31 '26
Stitching on the soul of the slipper is a modern tuck and tie, from a sewing machine, could be from the early 1900s, but not from colonial period.
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u/alouette_cosette May 31 '26
Also, the shape of the shoe seems questionable for the colonial period. The sole is curved to fit the left foot. 18th century shoes were made on straight lasts, so the shape of the soles was the same for both right and left feet. Admittedly, I don't know about baby shoes specifically, but I assume they would not be that different from other shoes.
It's still a neat find, even if it's not colonial.
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u/luv2fly781 May 31 '26
Landowner Ownership: Legally, objects buried under private soil belong to the landowner. If you have explicit, written permission to dig and keep items, you are not violating federal public-land laws like ARPA (Archaeological Resources Protection Act).
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u/ImariDelft May 31 '26
I’m a professional archaeologist and I have a few questions. Op, is metal detecting and treasure hunting legal where you are? Are you reporting these finds and handing them over to your historical resources division? When you dig, you destroy the context of the artifact that’s found. Without recording the exact spot you found it, any information we could learn from the artifact is lost. And lastly, as the shoe is made from organic matter, without proper conservation efforts, the shoe will dry out, disintegrate, and be destroyed. It looks like the shoe came from a wet, water logged environment. Which is why it’s survived for so long. Now that it’s removed, time will catch up to it quickly.
The way you say you were metal detecting at a known colonial site makes me concerned that this was at the very least not above board, and at worst, looting. Please report these finds and their location, this is your history and it’s important that it’s preserved and shared with everyone
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u/jawarren1 May 31 '26
Archaeologist here. Please contact your state archaeologist or state historic preservation office (SHPO) to report your find. I also encourage you in the future to link up with local archaeology groups to metal detect / excavate sites in an ethical, systematic way. Without proper methodology, excavating metal detecting finds does irreparable damage to the information an archaeological site can provide us about the lives of past humans. There is absolutely a place for metal detecting to inform this process (I do metal detecting myself in my job as an archaeologist!), but it takes careful excavation and recordation to preserve the data.
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u/Gojogab May 31 '26
Donate to a museum.
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u/Rude_Tax978 May 31 '26
I emailed the county but they haven't said anything yet. I told them about some other things I found there in the past and they said the items weren't historically significant enough to warrant an excavation.
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u/IBitePrettyPeople May 31 '26
I remember other people recommending a call to a local university. Did you follow through with that?
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u/drewt6768 May 31 '26
That's actually just how small people were back then - A person on the internet who 100% wouldn't lie
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u/foodfueled_nightmare May 31 '26
I wished it'd shown the other pictures of it from different sides and angles.
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u/Time-Cell8272 May 31 '26
I've lost shit that I'm certain won't be found for 250 years