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Ice skate
Ice skates are metal blades attached underfoot and used to propel the bearer across a sheet of ice while ice skating.
The first ice skates were made from leg bones of horse, ox or deer, and were attached to feet with leather straps. These skates required a pole with a sharp metal spike that was used for pushing the skater forward, unlike modern bladed skates.
Modern skates come in many different varieties, each suited to specific conditions or activities. People across the globe wear skates recreationally in ice rinks or on frozen bodies of water, and skates are the standard footwear in many sports, including figure skating, bandy, ice hockey, ringette, rink bandy, rinkball, speed skating and tour skating.
According to a study done by Federico Formenti, University of Oxford, and Alberto Minetti, University of Milan, Finns were the first to develop ice skates some 5,000 years ago from animal bones. This was important for the Finnish populations to save energy in harsh winter conditions when hunting in Finnish Lakeland. Finland has about 187,888 lakes, which separated villages from each other. To travel between villages, the Finnish people had two options: to take a longer route around the lake, or to find a way across the frozen surface of the lake. The earliest known skate to use a metal blade was found in Fennoscandia, and was dated to 200 AD. It was fitted with a thin strip of copper folded and attached to the underside of a leather shoe.
Starting in 1976, during excavations of the city of York, UK, 42 pairs of Viking-era ice skates were found at Coppergate; the majority are made from horse leg bones, although cattle leg bones were also used. The bones were cut flat and polished on one side and drilled with a hole at one end. A leather thong, held in place by a wooden peg, was inserted into the hole to attach the skate to the wearer’s ankle. The Viking invasion of York took place on November 1, 866. This would suggest that bone ice skates were being used in England from the ninth century.
William Fitzstephen, writing in the 12th century, described the use of bone skates in London. The following seems to be an Early Modern English translation of the Latin original:
when the great fenne or moore (which watereth the walles of the citie on the North side) is frozen, many young men play upon the ice, some striding as wide as they may, doe slide swiftly... some tye bones to their feete, and under their heeles, and shoving themselves by a little picked staffe, doe slide as swiftly as birde flyeth in the aire, or an arrow out of a crossbow.
In the 13th century, the Dutch revolutionized ice skating by sharpening the blades of ice skates, which were made of steel at the time.
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Ice skate
Ice skates are metal blades attached underfoot and used to propel the bearer across a sheet of ice while ice skating.
The first ice skates were made from leg bones of horse, ox or deer, and were attached to feet with leather straps. These skates required a pole with a sharp metal spike that was used for pushing the skater forward, unlike modern bladed skates.
Modern skates come in many different varieties, each suited to specific conditions or activities. People across the globe wear skates recreationally in ice rinks or on frozen bodies of water, and skates are the standard footwear in many sports, including figure skating, bandy, ice hockey, ringette, rink bandy, rinkball, speed skating and tour skating.
According to a study done by Federico Formenti, University of Oxford, and Alberto Minetti, University of Milan, Finns were the first to develop ice skates some 5,000 years ago from animal bones. This was important for the Finnish populations to save energy in harsh winter conditions when hunting in Finnish Lakeland. Finland has about 187,888 lakes, which separated villages from each other. To travel between villages, the Finnish people had two options: to take a longer route around the lake, or to find a way across the frozen surface of the lake. The earliest known skate to use a metal blade was found in Fennoscandia, and was dated to 200 AD. It was fitted with a thin strip of copper folded and attached to the underside of a leather shoe.
Starting in 1976, during excavations of the city of York, UK, 42 pairs of Viking-era ice skates were found at Coppergate; the majority are made from horse leg bones, although cattle leg bones were also used. The bones were cut flat and polished on one side and drilled with a hole at one end. A leather thong, held in place by a wooden peg, was inserted into the hole to attach the skate to the wearer’s ankle. The Viking invasion of York took place on November 1, 866. This would suggest that bone ice skates were being used in England from the ninth century.
William Fitzstephen, writing in the 12th century, described the use of bone skates in London. The following seems to be an Early Modern English translation of the Latin original:
when the great fenne or moore (which watereth the walles of the citie on the North side) is frozen, many young men play upon the ice, some striding as wide as they may, doe slide swiftly... some tye bones to their feete, and under their heeles, and shoving themselves by a little picked staffe, doe slide as swiftly as birde flyeth in the aire, or an arrow out of a crossbow.
In the 13th century, the Dutch revolutionized ice skating by sharpening the blades of ice skates, which were made of steel at the time.