The UNE Museum of Antiquities turns 60 this year – but its latest acquisition is several thousand years older.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Curator Dr Bronwyn Hopwood revealed the item on Wednesday evening, as part of the Australasian Society for Classical Studies (ASCS) 40th annual conference.
The Ancient Egyptian artefact was kept a secret – under wraps, but not a mummy.
It turned out to be a “shoe-in” for the collection: the oldest thong in Australia.
READ ALSO:
Dr Hopwood was thrilled to add the “rare and interesting” ancient Egyptian sandal to the collection.
“Studies of ancient civilisations can teach us many things, including that our most popular footwear were already being used over 3000 years ago!”
The gazelle leather sandal was made during the New Kingdom (1550 – 1069 BC). Papyrus sandals are fairly well preserved from antiquity, but few leather sandals have survived.
The museum bought the sandal with the help of the A.G. & I.C. McCready Fund from the collection of Kurt Kramer of Karlsruhe, Germany, who acquired it in the 1960s.
This sandal was made for an elite member of society, and probably worn around the house. Ancient Egyptians often wore a protective sandal over the top of the shoe to protect them in the streets.
Different colours of leather are woven together to create a checkerboard pattern around the outside of the shoe.
"You can see the craftsmanship that went into sandal-making in Ancient Egypt at the time," Dr Hopwood said.
There was an entire trade for the making of elite sandals. Tomb frescoes show craftsmen sitting at stools, surrounded by tools as they make sandals’ leather straps and thongs.
A replica of the Narmer Palette, also on display, shows a pharaoh carrying his ceremonial mace – accompanied by his sandal-bearer.
Sandals were also made for funeral customs; this stylised footwear could be made of leather or even precious metals. Tutankhamun, for instance, was interred with gold sandals.
The sandal is on public display at the UNE Museum of Antiquities, open 9.30am to 4.30pm Monday to Fridays.
Also on exhibition are Javanese miniature shoes from the 1700s, which cobblers used to advertise; a diorama of terracotta warriors wearing Silk Road shoes made of quilted hemp; and an Ancient Greek kylix (drinking cup), with a frieze of dancers at a Dionysiac festival, their sandals hung on the wall.
A new home for the museum
UNE’s antiquities collection is the only regional ancient history and archaeology museum in Australia. It began as part of the Department of Classics in 1959, and moved to its current location in 1988.
The museum will soon find a new home, as part of a five-year plan to refurbish the Dickson Library.
The first phase is to build a new collection centre to house the Museum of Antiquities, and the university’s art and scientific holdings. Dr Hopwood envisages it will be completed within two years.
The centre will be more accessible to the public: open on weekends, and fully staffed. It will have both a permanent and a temporary display space, so that items of interest can be rotated regularly. “It won’t be a static collection,” Dr Hopwood said.
The dedicated museum space will allow curators to trace themes and ideas across different disciplines. Scientific and humanities-based collections will be able to “talk” to each other, bridging C.P. Snow’s two cultures.
As a social historian, Dr Hopwood is interested in everyday life, and would like to present medicine or clothing across the ancient world and into the present.
"In daily life, you don't realise just how much of what you do is shaped by the things that you have to use,” she said.
Visitors are surprised how similar a Roman medical kit, for instance, is to modern tools.
“The only difference is that we have surgical steel and anaesthetic, which makes for a slightly better operation than it would have been in antiquity!”
Dr Hopwood would also like to set up the centre so that artists can draw the artworks. Already, Rick and Suzanne Hatch, of Weemala Pottery, come in to see ancient pots, and throw their own.
“There are so many ways the collections can talk to the community,” Dr Hopwood said, “and the community can use them. We’re keen to encourage that to happen, and to build a space that is welcoming and allows people to make the most of it.”
The rest of the library will follow as a separate stage. The collections will be an outreach centre for the community, providing 3D printing and other facilities.