Skate

The bone skate found on the Castle Hill in Lublin is the only monument of this type discovered on this medieval archaeological site.

It comes from a cultural layer located at the depth of about 3m in an archaeological excavation made in the courtyard of Lublin Castle in 1969. The relics discovered in this layer can be dated to the 12th - 14th centuries.

A skate made of bovine bone is characterised by smoothing of one long surface, and by working of one joint surface in the shape of a semi-circular "beak", trimming of the other end of the bone, on which some specimens have a hole drilled for attaching the skid to the foot.

The first skates found are about 5,000 years old. They were made of animal bones, tied with thongs to the feet. Wooden skates appeared in the 14th century, and skates made entirely of iron were introduced in the 17th century.

For a long time, skating was not only connected with recreation. Skates were a means of transport during long winters, especially useful for the medieval inhabitants of the settlement on Lublin Castle Hill, located at the fork of the Bystrzyca and Czechówka Rivers.The oldest phase of development on the hill was connected to the construction and functioning of the Piast Castle in the 13th - 14th centuries. The unique monument probably dates from that period.