Stepping into the past

-- A 1,400-year-old leather artefact found in the Yukon province of Canada has turned out to be a moccasin a soft leather slipper traditionally worn by American Indians. The object was recovered from a melting alpine ice patch in 2003 by Cody Joe of the Champagne and Aishihik indigenous community. He was working as part of a research team looking for clues to early life in the northern part of Canada. But at that time it was thought to be a hunter's bag. It was only after archaeologists cleaned and reassembled the hide that it was identified as a moccasin. The discovery is significant as the moccasin was likely to have been made and worn by early Athapaskan people and pre-dates any European trade, contact and influence.