LONDON (CNN) - Your favorite leather boots may have lasted a long time, but they’re no match for a pair found by archaeologists recently.
The team at MOLA Headline Infrastructure archaeology said they discovered a pair of boots on a roughly 500-year-old male skeleton found along the River Thames.
The skeleton, still wearing the mostly intact thigh-high boots, was found lying face down.
Our #MOLAHeadland archaeologists are unraveling a medieval mystery of a skeleton found face down in the Thames mud with his leather boots in tact during excavations for @TidewayLondon at #ChambersWharf. How did he meet his demise? Our team investigate: https://t.co/Gpm5UDukdQ pic.twitter.com/6yloKzLDjE
— MOLA (@MOLArchaeology) December 4, 2018
The discovery has prompted further investigation.
Leather was very expensive at the time of the man's death, which means he wouldn't likely have been buried wearing his boots.
The archaeologists said the boots “would have been ideal for walking out into the river and through the sticky Thames mud, so were perhaps waders.” The well-built footwear was reinforced with extra soles" and stuffed with an unidentified material to either make them warmer or improve the fit.
Researchers said they believe that indicates his death was premature, though the cause is unknown. They think he fell or drowned and was covered quickly by the ground as it moved with the tide.
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