I've been looking into minimalist/barefoot shoes lately and one thing that I found interesting is that, even though the plains First Nations of old (think Apache) wore thick, hard-soled moccasins, the woodland nations always preferred the soft, thin-soled pucker style.

The forest floor is littered with sticks, rocks, and other things, but clearly there was still some benefit derived from wearing what would now be termed "barefoot" shoes in the bush.