Constructed of trimmed horse or cow bones, and pierced at one end andstrapped to the foot with leather thongs, they were not powered by theclassic skating motion but used in tandem with a long stick; skatersstraddled the stick and poled themselves along.



In the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society of London, DrFrederico Formenti and Professor Alberto Minetti of Oxford Universitylay out the evidence supporting the idea that the birth of ice skatingtook place in Southern Finland, where the number of lakes within a givenarea is the highest in the world.



"In Central and Northern Europe, five thousand years ago peoplestruggled to survive the severe winter conditions and it seems unlikelythat ice skating developed as a hobby," says Dr Formenti.