During the summer of 2024, rapid melting at Norway's Lendbreen glacier led to a series of remarkable archaeological discoveries. "The melting really came rapidly at the end of the season," archaeologist Espen Finstad noted, according to Science Alert.
Finstad's team explored nearly a dozen mountain sites at the Lendbreen glacier, an ancient mountain pass used from the Viking Age to the Middle Ages, finding about 50 mysterious small objects, including gloves, staffs, and unknown tools. "It's all kind of small things, daily life things from the Viking Age or older, which you don't find in other archaeology contexts at least in Norway, because it's gone. It degrades," Finstad said about the small objects found, according to Science Alert.
Among the artifacts, the team found two well-preserved arrows during the 2024 campaign, one of which was resting on the ice without the need for excavation, demonstrating the rarity of such findings. Usually, there's a little excavation involved, but the archaeologists simply picked this arrow up, Science Alert reports.
"It is very rare to find arrows so well preserved in the ice, and it was a truly special find," Finstad stated in the study, as reported by La Razón. Some of the arrows found still retain their original feathers, which is rare due to the fragility of these organic materials. Fletching is delicate and doesn't usually last thousands of years, Science Alert notes.
The arrows recovered can provide valuable clues about past societies, including insights into trade and travel, as some arrowheads have tips made from river mussels sourced from far away, suggesting that hunters and traders traveled great distances to exchange products.
Arrows are particularly abundant in the glaciers because reindeer hunting was "almost like an industry" during the Iron Age and medieval period, serving both for personal sustenance and the trade of skins and meat.
Norway is at the forefront of the emerging field of research called glacial archaeology, with glaciers melting due to global warming revealing ancient artifacts. The Lendbreen ice patch has proven to be one of the richest sites in archaeological finds in Norway.
Norway stands out in the field of glacial archaeology, claiming more than half of the planet's glacial archaeology findings. Archaeologists visit Lendbreen almost every year. "There are so many treasures in the ice there," said Finstad, co-director of the program "Secrets of the Ice."
These objects offer a glimpse into daily life during the Viking era, according to Scienze Notizie. Some items they find are just "strange," according to Finstad.
Despite the impressive discoveries, archaeologists face a growing challenge: the rapid melting of ice, which limits the window of time to recover these objects before they degrade, according to La Razón. Heavy snowfall in 2024 interrupted some of the excavations. "We do not know how much time is left before these historical finds disappear completely," said Lars Pilø. "Each year, the ice reveals a part of history that remained hidden," Pilø said.
The article was written with the assistance of a news analysis system.