Research on the Structure and Techniques of Prehistoric Footwear Unearthed from Xinjiang

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Research on the Structure and Techniques of
Prehistoric Footwear Unearthed from Xinjiang*
Xiaoyu Xin
College of Textile and Clothing
Xinjiang University
Urumqi, China 830046
Abstract—Based on the prehistoric archaeological footwear
excavated from Xinjiang, the essay analyze the characteristics
of the structures and techniques of those footwear according to
early stage, middle stage and late stage of this period, and find
out that it had been developing constantly during almost 2000
years. And the style had been more and more abundant while
the structures more and more reasonable. With the continuous
improvement of the footwear techniques, the match of the
materials had been increasingly diverse, showing the primitive
exploring of the ancient residents of Xinjiang in footwear
making.
Keywords—Xinjiang; prehistoric; footwear; structures;
techniques
I. INTRODUCTION
As important articles for foot protection, footwear plays
a vital role in the life of ancient residents of Xinjiang. Due
to the geological environment of desert, oasis and grassland
co-existing, ancient residents of Xinjiang attach extreme
importance to the function of footwear, like heat retention
and comfort. Archaeological evidence proves that, as early
as in the Bronze Age, BC 2000, residents of ancient times in
Xinjiang starts wearing footwear for foot protection. Most
of the prehistoric[1] footwear unearthed from Xinjiang is
the leather boot which is mainly made of felt and animal fur
and falls into four kinds due to the length of boot leg: short
boot, medium-length boot, long boot and panty leather boot.
Its shape and structure constantly get improved in its almost
2000 years' development and evolve into various forms. For
the convenience of research, the paper divides the
prehistoric footwear unearthed from Xinjiang into three
phases: early, mid-term and later phases due to its
archaeological date, conducts an analysis on features of
structures and techniques of footwear in each phase and
conducts a preliminary discussion on the basic law of its
development and change.
II. EARLY PHASE (BC 2000 TO BC 1300)
According to archaeological division of history, the
early phase of prehistoric footwear unearthed from Xinjiang
is between BC 2000 and BC 1300. Most footwear is the
short leather boot , which mainly unearthed from the area
around Lop Nor with similar shape, structure and style:
mostly flat sole, round toe, opening in front of boot leg and
fixation at the ankle with thin and narrow strap or woolen
yarn with rough and unadorned earthy style and typical
primitive features. In Chinese ancient literature, this kind of
leather Hu boot with thin bottom, boot leg and drawstring is
called “Suo Ze”, “Su Zhu” or “ ” [2], referring to boots
with the bundle of cord or leather strap. Its birth time is
earlier than Shang and Zhou Dynasties as a description of
footwear of minorities in the Western Regions. In Shi You's
Fast Learning of Western Han Dynasty, there is "Barbarians
wearing felt, fur coats and weather boots"[3], vividly
describing the image of ancient residents in Western
Regions wearing felt, fur clothes and puttee leather boots. In
Eastern Han Dynasty, Liu Xi's Notes to Nominations •
Notes to Clothes records "Su Zhu refers to leather boots
lacking the forepart of boot leg, a name used by Hu people.
Su Zhu is a kind of footwear and people can walk forward
by wearing it"[4]. It describes the shape and structure
features of Su Zhu as leather boots used by the Western Hu
people, which lack the forepart of boot leg. The leather
boots of early phase before Han Dynasty unearthed from
Xinjiang completely conform to the above shape and
structure of "Su Zhu", listed as the earliest Su Zhu unearthed.
A. Structure
Leather boots of early phase can fall into two types in
terms of structure: three-piece and two-piece. The three-
piece boots refer to boots consisting of three pieces of
material: sole, vamp and boot leg. There is evident joint
trace along middle left and right sides of boots’ surface. It is
the most common seen type of leather boots of early phase.
The two-piece boots refer to boots consisting of two pieces
of leather material: sole and the joint piece of leather
material of boot leg and vamp.
1) Three-pieces structure
Leather boots with three-piece structure are mainly
unearthed from Peacock River Gumugou cemetery, Xiaohe
cemetery in Lop Nor and Keriyan Northern cemetery. Its
main material is animal skin with fur on the other side. It is
common to see inward fur on vamp and boot leg and
outward fur on soles. Boot leg is 9 to 28 cm tall, vamp is 8
to 14 cm wide and the sole is 13 to 29 cm long.
*It is a project supported by the National Social Science Fund (Art) of
China,2015.(Grant No.15CG160). Project Name: The Early Costumes of
Xinjiang before Han Dynasty.
3rd International Conference on Arts, Design and Contemporary Education (ICADCE 2017)
Copyright © 2017, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).
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268

Three-piece leather boot unearthed from different
cemeteries has certain regional features. For example, boots
unearthed from Gumugou cemetery have their boot leg
stitched on the vamp and leather sole from the behind to the
front. On the middle front part of the vamp, lies a small
opening of about 3 or 4 cm long for the convenience of
putting on and taking off. There are pinholes on the left and
right sides of boot leg’s front opening for the convenience
of fixation with a piece of woolen yarn or leather strap
going through the pinhole. "Fig. 1"
（a）Photo （b）Sketch （c）Pattern of the structure
Fig. 1. Leather boots unearthed from Gumugou cemetery.
Leather boots unearthed from Xiaohe cemetery and
Keriyan Northern cemetery are similar in shape and
structure without openings in the middle front part of vamp
and with leather boot leg directly stitched in the margin of
vamp and with a slightly higher bootleg compared with
leather boots unearthed from Gumugou etc. Take a pair of
leather boots unearthed from Xiaohe cemetery as an
example, their height is about 22.5 cm with a 29 cm long
sole, a 13.5 cm front width and a 9 cm back width. The
boots consist of three pieces of leather: sole, vamp and
bootleg with inward fur on bootleg and outward fur on the
sole [5]. There is a protruding arris on the left and right
sides of boot sole's middle edge for the convenience of
piecing the vamp and bootleg. Its bootleg is similar to that
of Gumugou leather boots and has pinholes on both sides,
through which woolen yarn goes and bypasses the ankle for
fixation. In terms of their characteristic surface decorations,
there are red vertical lines right in the middle of the vamp
and several pinholes near the seam crossing at the top, into
which feather and red woolen yarn are inserted in a matched
way, boasting unique decorative features. "Fig. 2"
（a）Photo （b）Pattern of the structure
Fig. 2. Leather boots unearthed from Xiaohe cemetery.
2) Two-pieces structure
Leather boots with two-pieces structure are mainly
unearthed from Grave 36, Qum-darya and Bronze Age
cemetery near LE and their time is slightly later than leather
boots unearthed from Gumugou. The two-piece leather
boots consist of two pieces of leather: sole and the joint
piece of bootleg and vamp. Stitch only exists on one side of
the surface.
Take leather boots unearthed from Grave 36, Qum-darya
as an example, their height is 26.5 cm and width is 10.5 cm
with a bootleg height of 18 cm. The sole is in irregular oval
with wide front and narrow back. Small notches on both
edge sides of the part between the heelpiece and arch of the
foot should be the alignment mark to form a seam. The
vamp and bootleg are in a whole piece of leather. There is a
small triangle skin as auxiliary structure near the front and
middle seam. An opening exists along the seam crossing of
vamp to form the joint three-dimensional contouring of
bootleg and vamp, stitching the sole to the upper. The
bootleg has an opening in front with one hole on each side,
through which leather strap goes for fixation. The upper
edge of bootleg is cut into zigzag with three red woolen yarn
and several broken feathers[6] on toe cap, boasting exquisite
structure design. "Fig. 3"
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（a）Photo （b）Sketch （c）Pattern of the structure
Fig. 3. Leather boots unearthed from Grave 36, Qum-darya [7].
B. Sewing Craft
Luo Chongqi puts forward three achievements in craft
history of ancient “leather shoes”: side and bottom breaking,
reasonable design of vamp and stitching the sole to the
upper from the inside[8]. Prehistoric early leather boots
unearthed from Xinjiang have experienced “side and bottom
breaking” and “turned-stitching techniques”, reflecting a
high technical level.
Archaeological evidence shows that three-piece and
two-piece leather boots from prehistoric Xinjiang have
realized side and bottom breaking and use a thin animal
ligament rope to stitch leather material into boots. In
addition, the common seen "embossment" on both sides of
three-piece leather boots' sole and "notch" on the sole of
two-piece leather boots should be used as alignment mark to
determine the suture location of bootleg, vamp and sole. The
bulging part is also in favor of stitching of leather boots in
later process.
As to stitching the sole to the upper of footwear, there
are generally two ways: “direct-stitching” and “turned-
stitching”. The former refers to connecting two pieces of
leather material directly with seam allowance outside
whereas the latter leaves seam allowance inside the
footwear with a bright, clean and smooth external seam.
Seen from archaeological material objects, in early Bronze
Age, Xinjiang residents have mastered turned-stitching
techniques and even the “smooth on both sides” stitching
techniques, reflecting the high technical level. "Fig. 4"
（a）Leather boots from Xiaohe cemetery
（b）Leather boots from a place near Grave LE
Fig. 4. Turned-stitching techniques during early period.
III. MID-TERM PHASE(BC 1300-BC 800)
Material objects of prehistoric footwear of mid-term
phase unearthed from Xinjiang mainly come from Wupu,
Askchar,Yanbulake cemeteries in Hami basin, and Yanghai
early cemetery, Shanshan between BC 1300 and BC 800.
Leather boots unearthed in this period are mainly ankle
boots with few thigh boots with a height of about 30 cm,
boasting more diversified shape and structure. Footwear
with four-piece structure (sole, vamp, upper and bootleg)
begins to emerge. With development of bronze civilization,
copper sheet begins to appear on vamp as decoration,
signifying progress of production technology in this period.
A. Structure
Structure of leather boots in mid-term phase is more
stylized compared with that of early boots. The structural
design of separated vamp and upper is more reasonable.
Apart from the three-piece structure of early phase, the four-
piece structure of separated sole, vamp, upper and bootleg
appears, reflecting boots making technical progress. Apart
from the round toe modeling similar to that of early phase,
pointed toe appears with lighter and more convenient shape
and structure which fit the feet more, reflecting early
exploration of ancient Xinjiang residents on modeling and
structure of footwear.
1) Three-pieces structure
Leather boots with three-piece structure in this period
are similar to those of early phase: The boots consist of
three pieces: sole, vamp and bootleg through stitching.
Pointed toe modeling begins to appear on the basis of
leather boots with round toe. For example, the pair of
pointed leather boots unearthed from Grave M157, Yanghai
No.1 cemetery, Shanshan, has a height of 26 cm with a 26.5
cm long sole. The pointed toe stretches forward in a straight
way. Sole, vamp and upper are made from a piece of
cattlehide respectively whereas the bootleg is made from
sheepskin with copper decorations on vamp [9]. In addition,
some pointed boottoes upwarp and even are folded, boasting
unique modeling. Take a pair of folded leather boots
unearthed from Wupu cemetery, Hami as an example; they
have a pass length of 22 to 23.5 cm, a height of 20 to 21 cm
and a sole width of 9.5 to 11 cm. They consist of three
leather pieces: vamp, sole and bootleg through stitching
with pointed and folded boot head decorated with nail brass
buckle ornament. There are also brass buckle decorations on
both sides of heels and bootleg[10]. "Fig. 5"
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（a）Photo of pointed leather boots from Yanghai cemetery
（b）photo of folded leather boots from Wupu, Hami
（c）pattern of the structure of pointed boots
Fig. 5. Pointed leather boots with three-pieces structure.
2) Four-pieces structure
Leather boots with four-piece structure and separated
vamp and upper appear in this period, showing further
improvement of boots making techniques, more reasonable
structure and more stylized making process. For example,
the flat round-toe leather boots unearthed from Wupu
cemetery, Hami adopt the four-piece structure of separated
sole, vamp, upper and bootleg. The sole consists of three
layers of cattlehide with a thickness of 0.5 cm and a length
of about 26 cm. The two pieces of cattlehide material of
upper and vamp are sutured whereas the 18 cm tall bootleg
is stitched to the upper. "Fig. 6"
（a）Photo （b）Sketch （c）Pattern of the structure
Fig. 6. Round-toe leather boots with four-pieces structure unearthed from
Wupu, Hami.
B. Sewing Craft
Seen from manufacturing craft, tanning and sewing
techniques of leather boots unearthed in this period get
improved. Most of the leather boots are made of tanned
leather with great improvement in tanning techniques. In
addition, leather material is selected according to structure
and location. For example, bootleg adopts soft sheepskin as
the material whereas the sole, upper and vamp use relatively
thick cattlehide [11]. Evident progress can be seen in sewing
craft. The sole and vamp adopt the turned-stitching
techniques making both sides smooth. Leather boots boast
fine craftsmanship and begin to cut leather into very thin
hide rope for sewing, the integrated technical level boasting
evident progress compared with early phase.
IV. LATER PHASE(BC 800 TO BC 200)
Prehistoric leather boots of later phase are mainly
unearthed from ZhagunlukeⅡCulture Cemetery, Qiemo,
Subeixi cemetery, Shanshan, Yanghai cemetery of the early
Iron Age and Three BridgesⅠCulture Cemetery, Shanshan
in Xinjiang from BC 800 to BC 200 or so. In this period,
ancient residents of Xinjiang use footwear with more
diversified shape and further improved structure. People
gradually form the habit to use foot-binding cloth or wear
felt socks inside footwear. Selecting and combining of
footwear material are more diversified, mostly using tough
cattlehide to make the sole and soft sheepskin, deerskin or
felt to make bootleg. Different materials are used in a
reasonable way. Manufacturing craft of footwear gradually
becomes mature with exquisite and beautiful sewing,
showing new features of the times.
A. Structure
Structure of footwear in later phase is the most
diversified during the 2000 years before Christ. Processing
craft of footwear gets greatly improved, with appearance of
leather boots with three-piece (structure upper and vamp-in-
one and separately cut sole) and pleated-sewing footwear.
On the other hand, corresponding to the prevailing of pants
and clothes length reduced, the height of bootleg gets
enhanced gradually with the initial appearance of thigh-high
boots and even panty boots.
1) Three-pieces structure with upper and vamp-in-one
Different from the three-piece structure of early phase
with vamp and bootleg stitched to the sole, the three-piece
structure with upper and vamp-in-one gradually becomes
popular in this period. Take ankle boots unearthed from
Grave No.179, Yanghai No.2 cemetery as an example. The
boots are made from raw animal leather with the sole, vamp
and bootleg as a separated piece respectively. The vamp and
upper-in-one is stitched to the sole and then the bootleg is
stitched to the former whole. This kind of vamp and upper-
in-one structure has higher requirements for accuracy,
boasting more suitable shape and structure. It effectively
reduces parting line on the vamp and enhances comfort level,
thus becoming commencement of modern footwear
structure. In addition, due to the lack of necessity to stitch
the bootleg to the sole, the bootleg is rather changeful. For
example, prehistoric Subeixi male wears panty leather boots
and female wears leather felt boots. Felt or soft sheepskin is
stitched to the bootleg or sheepskin is decorated on the knee
part of bootleg, forming unique regional features. "Fig. 7"
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（a）Photo （b）Sketch （c）Pattern of the structure
Fig. 7. Upper &vamp-in-one leather boots with three-pieces structure
unearthed from Yanghai cemetery.
2) Pleated-sewing panty leather boots
Apart from short boots, thigh-high boots get popular in
this period. The nation on horseback wearing pants as major
bottoms wears thigh-high boots outside the woolen pants for
protection against cold and agile appearance convenient for
riding and shooting. Shape and structure of thigh-high boots
fall into two types: thigh-high boots and panty boots.
Structure of thigh-high boots is similar to that of ankle boots,
and the only difference lies in length. Panty boots get
popular in Turpan Basin of later phase and are mainly
unearthed from Yanghai and Subeixi cemetery, Shanshan.
They are the combination of boots and pants. The bootleg
above the knee and the vamp blend into one harmonious
whole, which is pleated and directly stitched to the sole.
Holes are made at the upper edge of bootleg, and cords go
through the holes and are tied at people's waist in wearing,
boasting extremely unique shape and structure.
Take the panty boots worn by the male unearthed from
Subeixi M10 as an example. They are about 105 cm long
and 32 cm wide, made from sheepskin. The bootleg is as
high as thigh root in horn form as a whole with bootleg and
vamp-in-one. The sole is a separated piece. Due to the large
piece of leather material of vamp, the combined bootleg gets
pleated and stitched to the sole using the turned-stitching
techniques[12]. The whole boot becomes gradually wide
from bottom to top for the convenience of lower limbs’
movement. In addition, a piece of triangle sheepskin is
stitched to the upper edge of bootleg with pinholes through
which the cord goes for fixation at the waist as kneecap,
playing a dual role of structure and function. The panty
boots with bootleg and sole-stitched-in-one have excellent
thermal insulation properties, suitable for the dry and cold
weather in Xinjiang. "Fig. 8"
（a）Photo （b）Sketch （c）Pattern of the structure
Fig. 8. Pleated-sewing leather boots unearthed from Subeixi cemetery.
B. Sewing Craft
With further improvement of leather tanning, ancient
residents in this period have better access to tanning craft
and footwear manufacturing techniques. Seen from footwear
with pleated-sewing sole or vamp, we can know that
footwear at this time has fine and smooth surface with more
reasonable structure. In terms of stitching techniques of boot
sole, based on the original direct-stitching and turned-
stitching, pleated stitching appears. In terms of selection of
leather material, multiple types of leather material appear,
like wild goat skin and deerskin, reflecting further
improvement of ancient residents’ leather processing
technique in Xinjiang in this period.
V. CONCLUSION
Prehistoric footwear unearthed from Xinjiang is mainly
made from animal skin and fur and felt in the shape of
leather boots, structure tending to be reasonable in the
almost 2000 years' constant development and change.
Leather boots of early phase have achieved separated upper
and sole, three separated pieces of sole, vamp and bootleg,
two separated pieces of vamp and bootleg-in-one and the
sole, both "direct-stitching" and "turned-stitching"
techniques in terms of sole and vamp sewing craft and
mature structure and craft features. In the mid-term phase,
the leather boots get improved with appearance of special
shape and structure, like flat pointed boots and folded
warped boots. With domestication of horse and formation of
nomadic life style, pants begin to appear in ancient
residents' life in Xinjiang, accompanying the shortening of
tops, length increase of bootleg and appearance of the four-
piece boots structure of sole, vamp, upper and bootleg. In
the later phase, shape and structure of leather boots had been
further developed with the three-piece structure with vamp
and upper-in-one, making it possible to stitch bootleg to the
joint vamp. Bootleg material also becomes abundant. In
addition, In Subeixi culture of Turpan Basin, various types
of footwear, like thigh-high boots and panty boots, are
matched with short tops, reflecting male residents of Turpan
Basin in this period have begun the life of riding and
shooting. However, female still mainly wears redingote and
long dresses, reflecting the evident social division of labor.
Pleated-sewing craft begins to appear in footwear
manufacturing, reflecting progress of tanning craft in this
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period. Leather material becomes abundant, fine and smooth,
making it easy for modeling. Shape and structure of
footwear also become diversified. In a word, structure and
craft of prehistoric leather boots unearthed from Xinjiang
constantly develop in the almost 2000 years, reflecting
ancient residents' primitive wisdom and aesthetic
psychology in Xinjiang and pulling open the prelude of
evolution of Chinese footwear's shape and structure.
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