welcome to the ancestral findings podcast this is episode 2 to 7 have you ever heard of foot
shape genealogy it is a concept out of the 19th century that still has some adherents today it
is based on the belief that the shape of your foot can tell you one of five ancient ethnic
groups to which your ancestors belonged join me today as I talk about this wild and crazy method
researching your genealogy is much easier today than in the past with online records and digitized
copies of just about any document ever created it is possible to trace a large part of your
family tree without even leaving your house however using records and family lore is not
the only method people have used in the past to trace their family trees in the past there was a
theory that one could determine their ancestry via the shape of their feet in fact some people today
still believe this method while the foot shape method is questionable in its accuracy the way it
is used to supposedly determine one's ancestry is fascinating if you have exhausted all genealogical
resources and want some extra ideas on how to trace your ancestry foot shape may not give you
an accurate result but it will definitely give you some entertainment here is what you need to
know about it the exact term for this particular type of genealogy is foot and toe ancestry the
premise is that by examining the shape of your feet you can hazard a pretty accurate guess as
to where your most ancient ancestors originated foot and toe ancestry is based on five basic foot
shapes Celtic Greek Egyptian Germanic and Roman each foot type has a unique design to it known
as the outline of the foot and the toe lengths are also particularly each foot type among the
foot types the celtic foot type is the most complex and unusual with celtic feet the foot
itself is quite large but the big toe is short the second toe the one right next to the big
toe is exceptionally long and the other toes are smaller getting progressively smaller until they
end in a tiny pinky toe the celtic foot is a bit of a combination of Greek and German foot types
particularly with the exceptionally long second toe which is also a hallmark of the German foot
type do your feet and toes look Celtic try researching an unknown of your family tree
if you don't know of any Celtic background and see if you come up with any Celtic ancestors or maybe
you have a long big toe one that is longer than all the other toes if you do that is an Egyptian
foot while there is absolutely no scientific data to support the idea that the shape of our toes and
feet can tell us anything about our ancestry there has been research done on toe size and
shape in different populations around the world as an example around the world it is more common for
the second toe to be the longest toe as in the Greek foot or foot genealogy theory yet it is
ridiculous to think that aboriginals in Australia had Greek ancestors if they have a second toe that
is longer than the other ones which most of them do it could be that it is better for balance when
walking upright because the longer second toe is so common among most people there are exceptions
but it is the most common toe sizing it would seem there has to be some reason common to most humans
and why were the classifications of feet divided into Celtic Greek Roman Egyptian and German as far
as Egyptian Greek and Roman feet go these are the idealized forms of body shapes and classical art
these were the types of art that were revered in the 19th century when foot-shaped genealogy
first came into vogue and the corresponding foot shapes do tend to match the foot shapes used in
art depicting people of these civilizations for example in art from ancient Greece most people
depicted do have foot shapes like the Greek shape and foot genealogy interestingly the Statue of
Liberty is a Greek style sculpture and it also has the Greek foot shape seen in Greek art and
in foot shape genealogy while the commonality of the classical Greek foot shape in ancient
Greek art may indeed mean that the majority of ancient Greeks had this shape of foot it could
also simply mean that foot shape was considered the beauty standard for feet in ancient Greece
and was used in art whether most people had the so-called perfect shape or not there are also the
concepts of homogeneous groups of people in the foot shaped genealogy theory and these concepts
are essentially modern inventions beginning in the 19th century ideas of the German people and the
Egyptian people came into vogue with Westerners looking at these nations as being made up of one
type of ethnically homogeneous people however it is an erroneous assumption Germany was a variety
of different countries such as Saxony Prussia and Bavaria until it was united into one nation like
Germany and the ancient Romans knew the German people to be made up of a diverse mix of cultures
all living together or near each other in fact the term German is an ancient Roman invention because
they looked at the people living in the modern area of Germany as barbarians so they lumped them
together as Germans thus dismissing the diverse cultures as one uncivilized group it was much the
same with the ancient Egyptians ancient Egypt did have culturally homogeneous Egyptians but
it also had a wide variety of ethnicities and cultures from all over the ancient world living
there as the most technologically advanced and modern of the ancient cities of the Middle East
it attracted immigrants from hundreds and even thousands of miles around ultimately
using foot-shaped genealogy probably has nothing to do with your actual ancestry however it is a
fun pastime to use with the younger generation as a tool to get them interested in genealogy
join me the next time and I'll talk about why the French enjoyed much
better relations with Native Americans than other European groups when they
first came to American shores copyright by ancestral findings all rights reserved
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