How did prehistoric people cut their toenails? (Part 2)

One barefoot reader argues that human toenails don’t get abraded by contact with the ground, so prehistoric people would probably have needed to cut them

22 June 2022

healthy toes close up with a human foot with clean nail; Shutterstock ID 2126317208; purchase_order: -; job: -; client: -; other: - — Shutterstock/Wahyu Ramdani

Rosemary van Essen Palmerston North, New Zealand

I am not convinced that toenails would be abraded by contact with the ground, as outlined in previous replies. As someone who goes half the year barefoot, walking on a variety of surfaces, I am still required to trim my nails.

Unlike dogs, for example, human toenails remain high off the ground, and I have noticed that people used to walking on rough surfaces also lift their feet higher than town dwellers do. I am not doing as much rough walking as a prehistoric person, of course. But in my experience, to keep…