World’s Largest ‘Glacial Archeology’ Expedition Recovers 48 Stone Age Arrowheads and Shafts.
Archaeologists with the Glacier Archaeology Programme in Innlandet, Norway, recovered 48 prehistoric arrows from melting ice in Jotunheimen this year, after a three-week field effort, including some from the Stone Age.
The Glacier Archaeology Programme in Innlandet, known as Secrets of the Ice, reported that it found and recovered 48 prehistoric arrows from melting mountain ice in Jotunheimen, Norway, this season. The team had just returned from three weeks of fieldwork at the edge of the ice.
Work focused on the Kvitingskjølen mountain area, at the ice patches Langfonne, Storfonne and Handklefonne. The team reports that the ice is disappearing faster than expected and that large areas once covered by ice are now bare. Ice that had lasted for thousands of years is beginning to vanish completely in many places.
The finds vary in age. Among the oldest is an arrow with a slate arrowhead and wooden shaft, estimated at 5,000 to 6,000 years old. Others include a bone arrowhead found with part of its shaft, about 5,000 years old, and an arrowhead made from freshwater mussel shell, about 3,600 years old. A complete arrow with a bone head and wooden shaft was dated to roughly 1,800 years ago.
The program began its work in 2006 and has since recorded 73 archaeological sites and recovered more than 5,000 artifacts. The team says ice preserves organic materials such as wood, hide, sinew and textiles that would normally decay. Early finds were mostly less than 2,000 years old, with many from the Viking Age. Now, the team reports, more of the objects are older than 2,000 years, many from the Stone Age and Bronze Age, and the oldest are more than 6,000 years old.
The archaeologists link this shift to the melting of the oldest ice, which holds the oldest material. They note that Langfonne, once a large ice patch, has split into smaller patches and will probably be gone within 20 years. They expect the ice at many of their study sites could disappear in that time, and they say objects decay quickly once the ice releases them.
The field season continues. The finds still need to be secured, documented and prepared for research and conservation, and the team plans to recover more material before winter. Some of this year's finds are on display in a refrigerated case at the Norwegian Mountain Centre in Lom, only days after leaving the ice.
Note: The headline calls this the world's largest expedition and describes Stone Age arrowheads and shafts. The page does not make a world's-largest claim, and it describes 48 prehistoric arrows of varying ages, only some from the Stone Age.
At a Glance
- The team recovered 48 prehistoric arrows from melting ice in Jotunheimen, Norway, this year, and has just returned from three weeks of fieldwork.
- Since 2006 the program has recorded 73 archaeological sites and recovered more than 5,000 artifacts.
- One slate-headed arrow with a wooden shaft is estimated at 5,000 to 6,000 years old.
- The team says ice at many of its study sites may be completely gone within 20 years.
- Some finds are displayed in a refrigerated case at the Norwegian Mountain Centre in Lom.
Sources
This brief was written by Brightside Report from the reporting linked above. Spot an error? Request a correction.