From the Bronze Age onward, tools of broadly similar appearance made primarily from metacarpal and metatarsal bones of large ungulates appear in various archaeological periods. These tools are lightly worked, with carved bone ends, and occasionally feature various holes. Researchers have been debating their function since the nineteenth century,. The dominant view in research identifies these artifacts, particularly those with a flat surface on one side, as bone skates, while some suggest that certain pieces might have served as sled runners or fishing net weights. The present study examines bones from medieval and early modern archaeological contexts and ethnographic collections. Skating on bones is known from ethnographic literature, medieval and early modern written records, as well as visual sources. The aim was to make it possible to determine whether the bones recovered from archaeological contexts were indeed used for skating as described in historical sources, or if other functions could be attributed to them. The usewear analyses chosen for this purpose involved comparing traces on archaeological finds with those on ethnographic objects under a stereomicroscope. The methodology of experimental archaeology was enlisted to ensure the reliability and acceptance of the results. The experiment involved creating wear traces by sliding bone on ice to establish the skating function of the original pieces. The results of the investigation enable the classification of the examined bones into functional groups based on their original use.