How climate change is revealing, and threatening, thawing relics

By Stephanie Bailey, for CNN

Updated 0939 GMT (1739 HKT) February 26, 2019

In Norway, archaeologists from a program called Secrets of the Ice are searching for items that melt out of ice patches. Pictured, a team member holds a 1,400-year-old arrow.
Photos: Archaeologists find thawing artifacts
In Norway, archaeologists from a program called Secrets of the Ice are searching for items that melt out of ice patches. Pictured, a team member holds a 1,400-year-old arrow.
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A very rare type of arrowhead was found in 2018, near melting ice on a reindeer-hunting site. It is 1,500 years old and was discovered with its wooden arrow shaft, which can also be seen in the picture.
Photos: Archaeologists find thawing artifacts
A very rare type of arrowhead was found in 2018, near melting ice on a reindeer-hunting site. It is 1,500 years old and was discovered with its wooden arrow shaft, which can also be seen in the picture.
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This packhorse cranium is 300 years old. Archaeologists have found remains of dead packhorses where an old mountain route crossed the ice.
Photos: Archaeologists find thawing artifacts
This packhorse cranium is 300 years old. Archaeologists have found remains of dead packhorses where an old mountain route crossed the ice.
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Glacial archaeologists pack artifacts after a day of fieldwork in a glaciated mountain pass.
Photos: Archaeologists find thawing artifacts
Glacial archaeologists pack artifacts after a day of fieldwork in a glaciated mountain pass.
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Some sites are so large that the archaeologists have to survey them for weeks to collect all the finds. In such cases, a base camp is established near the site, like this camp below the ice patch at 1,650 meters.
Photos: Archaeologists find thawing artifacts
Some sites are so large that the archaeologists have to survey them for weeks to collect all the finds. In such cases, a base camp is established near the site, like this camp below the ice patch at 1,650 meters.
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Prehistoric and medieval skis have melted out of the glacial ice. This ski is radiocarbon-dated to around 700 AD.
Photos: Archaeologists find thawing artifacts
Prehistoric and medieval skis have melted out of the glacial ice. This ski is radiocarbon-dated to around 700 AD.
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Reindeer will move onto snow and ice on hot summer days to avoid pestering insects. The ancient hunters knew this and hunted the reindeer on the ice, which is why so many hunting tools were lost in the snow on these sites.
Photos: Archaeologists find thawing artifacts
Reindeer will move onto snow and ice on hot summer days to avoid pestering insects. The ancient hunters knew this and hunted the reindeer on the ice, which is why so many hunting tools were lost in the snow on these sites.
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