No one knows exactly when or where the first ice skates were made. But we do know that as long ago as Stone Age, men in northern Europe and in Siberia, where winters bring much snow and ice. made themselves skates out of bones. Remain of such skates have been found in Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and Great Britain. After the Middle Ages, bone runners were succeeded by wooded-bladed skates. Later there appeared skates made of iron. They were clumsy and crude, but great improvement over the heavy wooden runners.