Norwegian Archaeologists Are Salvaging Priceless Artifacts From Melting Glaciers--Before It's Too Lat

Norwegian Archaeologists Are Salvaging Priceless Artifacts From Melting Glaciers—Before It’s Too Late

The team has uncovered thousands of objects in the Innlandet region, including a 3,000-year-old arrow.

Richard Whiddington, October 15, 2023



The arrow found by Glacier Archaeology Program. Image: Espen Finstad/secretsoftheice.com.

There is surely little upside to the environmental changes posed by global warming, but nevertheless, a group of Norwegian archaeologists is seizing the opportunities presented by the country’s rapidly melting glaciers.

That group is Glacier Archaeology Program—snappy internet alias: Secrets of the Ice—and since receiving permanent government funding in 2011 it has been responsible for 90 percent of Norway’s glacial finds.

Granted, the group’s success is partly tied to the topography of Innlandet. The county boasts many of Norway’s highest peaks, and the team has pursued salvaging artefacts from remote locations in a comprehensive and systematic manner. To date, it has made 4,000 finds across 66 sites.

The most recent discovery was a wooden arrow with a quartzite tip and intact feathers. The Jotunheimen mountain ice had preserved the arrow so well it appeared new. In fact, it is an estimated 3,000 years old, with archaeologists confident it belonged to a reindeer hunter in the late Stone Age or early Bronze age. It was one of roughly 250 objects found this season.

More:
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/norway-ice-archeology-2369685