The extreme northwest of China, in the Xinjiang region, is a veritable frontier zone. Now and in the most remote past. The Silk Road passed through it and throughout history it has been home to a multitude of ethnic groups, including Kazakhs, Tajiks, Tibetans, Mongols, Russians and Uyghurs.
This vast territory is divided by the Tian Shan ranges (literally, 'heavenly mountains') and its glaciers that separate two deserts, the Gurbantuggut and the Taklamakan. The mountainous system is the fifth in the world after the Himalayas, the Andes, the Rocky Mountains and the Pamir chain.
With peaks up to 7,400 meters high, getting around the area has never been easy. Especially because of the almost 16,000 glaciers in those mountains, which occupy an area of up to 15,500 square kilometers and represent an ice volume of 1,048 cubic kilometers.
Some archaeologists believe that it was in the Tian Shan that skiing was born. Ancient rock paintings in the Altai Mountains of northern Xinjiang, believed to be up to 10,000 years old, depict hunters on what appear to be skis.
But what is certain is that the area has the oldest ice skates in all of China, made 3,500 years ago with the bones of yellow oxen and horses that have just been discovered in a tomb in the ruins of Gaotai, 385 kilometers away. from Ürümqi, the regional capital.
Researchers don't yet know if the skates were used for hunting or for regular travel. These ice skates have a straight piece of bone with holes in both ends so that it could be tied to shoes. The resulting blade is very flat compared to modern models, but it formed a cutting edge that allowed its owner to glide freely.
Archaeologist Ruan Qiurong, from the Xinjiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, explained that the newly discovered skates are almost exactly the same as those that existed in prehistoric Europe, which can be interpreted as new evidence of an exchange of information between the East and China. western and eastern Eurasia during the Bronze Age.
The Gaotai ruins are part of the Jirentai Goukou (Jartai Pass) archaeological site, which was discovered in 2015 in the Yili River valley. The space comprises an ancient settlement, as well as a nearby tomb complex situated within a high platform surrounded by stone slabs.
Archaeologists believe the site dates to around 3,600 years ago, when the region was occupied by cattle herders of the Andronovo culture, which also occupied parts of Central Asia and the Far East. The tomb where the skates were found would have belonged to a noble family, Qiurong said.
Excavations have revealed important aspects of funerary rites, beliefs, and social structures. In addition, the remains of dozens of wagons or wooden carts were found that seem to have been used to build the platform of the tomb. They include 11 solid wood wheels and over 30 pieces, including rims and axles.
The bone skates found at the Gaotai ruins are not the oldest on record, but they are strikingly similar to 5,000-year-old ice skates found in Finland. Similar models have also turned up at archaeological sites located throughout Northern Europe.
Specialists believe that Finnish skates were used in the mostly flat regions of southern Finland, an area that is dotted with tens of thousands of small lakes that freeze over in winter.
