Archaeologists in China have discovered a pair of ice skates made from animal bones dating back 3,500 years. Even though such like have been discovered in Europe before, this seems to be the oldest in Asia.

The discovery was made during an excavation in the city of Hulunbuir in northern China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The skates were found inside a burial site along with other artifacts such as pottery, bone arrows, and a horse’s head, according to IFL Science.

The skates are believed to have been used during the early Bronze Age by the ancestors of the modern-day Mongolian people. The bones used to make the skates are believed to be from a deer, and they were sharpened to create a cutting edge that allowed the wearer to glide across the ice.

Ice skating has a long history, with evidence suggesting that it was first practiced in Finland around 3,000 years ago. However, the discovery of these ice skates in China pushes back the earliest known use of ice skates for several centuries. The skates were believed to be used for practical purposes, such as hunting and transportation across frozen rivers and lakes. The discovery provides insight into the early history of ice skating and how people used it in ancient times.

In addition to shedding light on the history of ice skating and technology in ancient China, the discovery of ice skates is also crucial for studying human migration patterns. The ancestors of the modern-day Mongolian people are believed to have originated in the region where the ice skates were found, and their migration patterns can be traced through archaeological discoveries such as this one.

The local and central tombs of the high platform were cleaned up and dissected by archaeologists between 2019 and 2022, who concluded that they were the biggest, highest standard. Best-preserved Bronze Age stone tomb architectural remains were discovered in Xinjiang and even the Eurasian grassland. It has been established that the Gaotai ruins date from the sixteenth to the fifteenth centuries BC.