Page:Prehistoric and Medieval Skis from Glaciers and Ice Patches in Norway.pdf/3

Prehistoric and Medieval Skis from Glaciers and Ice Patches in Norway Vossaskavlen will be summarized to clarify their age and context. In addition, three other ski finds of more recent or uncertain date will be given a short description.

Ski history and typology

Before delving into the details of the individual ski finds, it is probably helpful to provide some ski-historical context. The earliest find claimed to be a ski is from Siberia and dated to c. 6000 BCE (Burov 1989). The earliest ski finds in the Nordic countries are the skis from Kalvträsk, Sweden (c. 3200 BCE, Åström and Norberg 1984, 84) and Drevja, Norway (c. 3100 BCE, Sørensen 1993a, 107). These oldest ski finds have remained isolated finds from their time with few points of interaction with other assemblages. Therefore, they have been treated more as curiosities than focal points of research. A remarkable number of prehistoric and medieval skis are known from Sweden and Finland (c. 90 in each country), with Norway has fewer with 23 skis (Manker 1971, 78; Berg 1993, 75; Sørensen 1993a). Even though finds have been fewer, skiing has been a key part of national history in Norway. During the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century Norway was seeking its place as an independent nation and skiing became vital in the process. The famed polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen cemented the belief that Norwegians were a particularly skiworthy people (Leich 2009, 6). In his book about the Greenland crossing he devoted an entire chapter to the history and development of skis (Nansen 1890). Seen in this context all ski finds have been treated as important for the understanding of Norwegian heritage.

The current typology of skis separates them into types based mainly on their type of foothold (Manker 1971). The typological work by Ernst Manker furthered earlier work laid down by Gösta Berg (1950). In lieu of funds to conduct a radiocarbon-campaign, it was deemed productive to make a complete inventory of skis and create a typology to better understand the breadth of the material (Figure 2). In Manker’s work type A has a flat foothold with vertical holes for the binding, and a flat underside without longitudinal grooves. Type B has a slightly raised foothold with raised wood along the side of the foot, in which there are horizontal holes for the binding. The underside is flat and without grooves. Type C has a raised platform for the foot, with a horizontal hole for the binding through the foothold. Type C has four subtypes based on the character of the underside, of which type C1, with a flat or slightly convex underside without grooves, is the most common type and of special interest here. Types A and B are very rare. The only representative of type A known from the Nordic countries is the Kalvträsk ski.

Fur-lining of the underside is known from more recent Nordic skis (Sørensen 1993a; Vilkuna 1998), with the c. 500 CE ski from Mänttä being the earliest known example until now. Furs may have been attached using sinew through holes along the edges of the ski, with iron or wooden nails, sown across the upper side of the ski or glued to the underside (Sørensen 1993a, 96). The two last techniques would not leave traces showing the original presence of fur. Such a presence would have to be indicated by other means such as a rough underside not suitable for gliding on or an underside without traces of wear. Only the presence of longitudinal grooves makes fur-lining unlikely.