Early Finns Fashioned Skates from Horse Bone
Early Finns began ice-skating some 5,000 years ago, according to researchers at Manchester Metropolitan University and Oxford University.
The researchers claim skaters fashioned skates from horse bone and propelled themselves forward with the help of a stick, report the BBC and The Times.
Researchers say people in southern Finland preferred to skate across small lakes than go around them.
They add however that the ancient skating method was relatively slow. Early Finns reached speeds of about eight kilometres an hour on their skates. Current speed-skaters are able to reach speeds of 60 kilometres per hour.
The study appeared in the Linnean Society of London's Biological Journal.
YLE, The Times, BBC
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