New to the Edge of the Cedars: Everywhere the tread of sandals

This month the Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum’s “New to the Edge” exhibit features a remarkable pair of “jog toe” sandals and a beautiful Wingate Black-on-red bowl.

We show the two of these items together because the bowl illustrates a similar pair of sandals in its painted design.

The bowl is an example from the White Mountain Red Ware tradition, a pottery tradition that features a gorgeous brick-red slip and centers upon west-central New Mexico and east-central Arizona.

The type Wingate Black-on-red dates to about AD 1050-1200.

This pottery type is contemporaneous with jog toe sandals, which were common to the broad, northern Southwest from about AD 1050-1300.

The sandals, which exhibit little evidence of use, are made entirely from yucca leaves.

The bowl’s painted design features a fine illustration of a pair of jog toe sandals at the bottom of the vessel.

Unfortunately, it’s not known where either the bowl or the sandals come from.

Nonetheless, they give a powerful nod to a footwear tradition common to the northern Southwest 900 years ago.

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