PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC—According to a report from Radio Prague International, a medieval ice skate made from animal bone has been uncovered in the central Moravian city of Přerov. The object was unearthed in the basement of a house on the city’s Upper Square by archaeologists from the Comenius Museum and has been dated to the second half of the tenth century or the first half of the eleventh century A.D. based on accompanying ceramics. The skate was most likely crafted from the shin bone of a horse. It has a curved tip at the front end with a hole drilled into it and another hole drilled in the back. A strap threaded through the holes would have been used to attach the skate to a shoe or a wooden sledge. According to archaeologist Zdeněk Schenk, the skate was used for transportation, not leisure activities. “Rather than skating, they would shuffle along the frozen surface with the help of a stick or two,” he says. “They would also attach the blades to sledges to carry a load of goods across the frozen water.” To read about the saga of a mysterious skeleton dating to the same period, go to “The Man in Prague Castle.”
