The First Ice Skates Weren’t for Jumps and Twirls—They Were for Getting Around

(via Smithsonian)  Next month, ice dancers, racers and hockey players will lace up their razor-sharp skates to compete in some of the most popular winter Olympic games. But for centuries, blades on boots weren’t just for sports and leisure—they were the only way some people had to travel in winter. The ice skate dates back to the Bronze Age, when people throughout eastern Europe and Russia built skates out of animal shin bones that let them glide in vastly different ways than athletes do today.