The first is the ÅA-site, where the total number of offcuts exceeds 50,000 pieces. It is possible to identify all the different categories of offcuts from the material even if the different types in most cases occur mixed together. The occurrence of hide edges can be interpreted as primary waste from the initial trimming of hides. Moreover, their occurrence together with offcuts from cutting out pattern pieces and trimmings (secondary and tertiary waste) suggests the probability that artefact makers used complete hides when cutting patterns for artefacts. The only artefact type that can be identified from the offcut material at the ÅA-site is the shoe; numerous pieces deriving from the cutting of shoe-soles (so called intersectional cutting pieces, or secondary waste) have been recorded, and tertiary waste from trimming is also common, while the production of artefact types other than shoes has not been identified either at the ÅA-site or at other sites in Turku (Harjula 2008a, 142–147).
Besides the ÅA-site, another area with evidence of leatherworking and shoemaking that may be connected with a certain location is the strand area of the Lake Mätäjärvi (observations on sites 5 and 11 in Figure 10.2). It is suggested that the structural evidence (tanning tubs; hide scraping beam) and production waste (primary waste from hide preparation; secondary and tertiary offcuts from shoemaking) indicate the undertaking of professional shoemaking, with hide preparation included in the 15th and early 16th centuries.
Broken shoes could be taken to a shoemaker for repair. However, in the Middle Ages there were also special trades dealing with shoe repairs. In medieval and later England, for example, cobblers refurbished, repaired, and remade old shoes, before selling them on. Thus, besides undertaking repairs, cobblers also sold second-hand shoes (Grew and de Neergaard 2001, 89–90; Mould, Carlisle and Cameron 2003, 3347). In Germany, the job description of the cobbler was divided into two professions. A Flickschuster only repaired footwear, while an Altmacher bought used shoes, fixed them and sold them on (Metzger 2002, 144). There is no information on cobblers in medieval Sweden (Granlund 1982, 649). Thus, we are reliant upon the archaeological record to tell us about shoe repairs in Turku in the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Early Modern Period.
Shoes from archaeological contexts in Turku were most frequently repaired by the affixing of clump soles: additional pieces of leather used to patch a worn area of a shoe sole. Most of the shoes with a clump repair in Turku were repaired with a very coarse leather thonging (Figure 10.6). In only a few cases has the use of thread been documented. This suggests the probability that clump-soled shoes were repaired by the shoe users themselves. Another method of sole repair was resoling. Unlike clumpsoling, this was a demanding and time-consuming task, and was therefore probably carried out by professional shoemakers or cobblers in Turku.