Kalvträskskidan ("the Kalvträsk ski") is among the oldest

ski A ski is a narrow strip of semi-rigid material worn underfoot to glide over snow. Substantially longer than wide and characteristically employed in pairs, skis are attached to ski boots with ski bindings, with either a free, lockable, or partia ...

s ever found.

Discovery

The Kalvträsk ski was found in the autumn of 1924, as a group of men digging a ditch through a mire near the village of Kalvträsk close to

Skellefteå Skellefteå (, locally ) is a city in Västerbotten County, Sweden. It is the seat of Skellefteå Municipality, which had 73,246 inhabitants in 2021. The city is historically industrial, with mining being a large part of that industry, especial ...

, Sweden encountered some wooden objects at a depth of 1.5 metres. They carefully extracted the objects that turned out to be two skis measuring 204 cm by 15.5 cm and a shovel shaped ski pole measuring 156 cm. The objects were kept in a shed that winter before being turned into a museum the following summer. By that time one of the skis had started to wither and fall apart, so that only a few fragments of it remain. Thankfully the other ski is still more or less intact.

Analysis

An original dating using

pollen analysis Palynology is the "study of dust" (from grc-gre, παλύνω, palynō, "strew, sprinkle" and ''-logy'') or of "particles that are strewn". A classic palynologist analyses particulate samples collected from the air, from water, or from deposits ...

of pollen from the site suggested that the skis were 4000 years old, but later carbon dating has shown evidence that they are around 5200 years old, i.e. older than the

pyramids A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilat ...

of ancient Egypt. An analysis made in 1992 by the Forest Sciences faculty of the

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, or Swedish Agricultural University (Swedish: ''Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet'') (SLU) is a university in Sweden. Although its head office is located in Ultuna, Uppsala, the university has several c ...

showed that the skis were made from pine that had grown in a slope, causing the wood to become denser than ordinary. This shows good craftmansship, since this type of wood has been favoured by ski makers in more recent times as well. Each ski had four holes for the bindings, which corresponds well with ancient skis found in

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...

, but not typical of other skis found in

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...

. The ski pole is similar to ski poles used in historic times by the Sami people in northern Scandinavia.K. B. Wiklund: Mera om skidornas historia
/ref> The ski is kept at the ski exhibition in the

Västerbottens Museum Västerbottens museum in the Gammlia area of Umeå, Sweden is a county museum with responsibility for the cultural history of Västerbotten County. The museum consists of the Gammlia open-air museum, a ski exhibition (previously the Swedish Ski ...

Umeå Umeå ( , , , locally ; South Westrobothnian: ;). fi, Uumaja; sju, Ubmeje; sma, Upmeje; se, Ubmi) is a city in northeast Sweden. It is the seat of Umeå Municipality and the capital of Västerbotten County. Situated on the Ume River, U ...

Discovery

Analysis

References

Further reading