More than 1,800 meters above sea level near Norway’s tallest mountain, man-made climate change is melting the ice. In a strange twist of fate, archaeologists are reaping the benefits. As ancient artifacts long locked in the ice are revealed.
Among them, this scare stick – used to drive reindeer towards Viking archers 1,500 years ago says team leader Lars Piloe.
Lars Piloe, Danish Scientist and Team Leader: “They used the natural behavior of the reindeer to guide themselves down to where the hunters were hidden.”
Freed from the ancient freeze, the treasure troves can rot within days. So what should be a painstaking academic study is in fact a race against time.
Lars Piloe, Danish Scientist and Team Leader: “Our main focus now is the rescue part – to rescue the artifacts before they’re gone.”
An ice cave's been dug to demonstrate how the artifacts may have looked trapped in their frozen graves - a leather shoe 3400 years old; a perfectly-preserved arrow, complete with feather. Even a smell straight from the dark ages, as the team released ancient reindeer droppings.
According to glaciologist Rune Strand Oedegaard: Rune Strand Oedegaard, Glacier and Permafrost Expert, Gjoevik University: “When we made the tunnel this spring, we had lots of problems actually with the smell in the tunnel. So this is fresh, not very nice smell. It's probably around 3000 years old preserved in cold ice.”
The front edge of the ice patch has retreated 18 meters in the last year. So much is thawing the team can't search all the newly exposed ground.
Lars Piloe, Danish Scientist and Team Leader: “There are many ice patches with finds but we can only cover a few of those so we know we’re losing artifacts every year.”
Most international climate experts say the retreat of glaciers, from the Andes to the alps, is a side effect of man-made global warming – a modern environmental disaster now teaching us about our past.
Source: NTD Television [September 16, 2010]