Abstract
On ice and snow with the wind abaft: What do we know about origins of mobility in winter terrain? This article pays attention to the origins of tools which help us with locomotion on ice and snow: ski, skates, snowshoes and sledge. We can assume that our ancestors invented these tools in order to deal with adverse winter conditions.
Not just in case of Nordic areas, where people were sometimes isolated more than quarter of year, these tools can help us cover a large distance in winter terrain. In the past, snow and ice complicated our ancestor's lives, especially with interruption of social relations and making hunting or trading impossible.
Humans coped with these condition by inventing ski, skates, snowshoes and sledge. But when and why? We will examine origins of all tools mentioned above and take a closer look especially at bone skates.