(ORDO NEWS) — They say that even in the worst situation, you can find something good and benefit from it. We are very frightened by horror stories about the consequences of global warming – because of the increase in air temperature, plants, animals and even people can die out.
The situation is terrible, but scientists were able to find one plus in global warming. As a result of the melting of glaciers, ancient objects like tools, weapons and even the clothes of our distant ancestors appear on the surface.
Recently, archaeologists said that back in 2007 they managed to find shoes 3,100 years old. It is assumed that it belonged to a woman or teenager who lived with a group of hunters.
There will be even more such discoveries in the future, however, if scientists do not react quickly, ancient artifacts will be completely wiped off the face of the earth.
What is glacial archeology?
When humanity began to engage in archeology, it is not known exactly. However, references to this science can be found even in the works of the ancient Greek philosopher Plato – by the word “archeology” he meant all antiquity.
For a long time, ancient artifacts were discovered by accident, in ancient structures like the Egyptian pyramids or simply underground. However, with the development of global warming, a new direction of archeology arose – glacial.
The climate of our planet is constantly changing. As a result of cooling, many things of ancient people and their bodies ended up inside perennial ice, and scientists learned about their existence only when this ice began to melt.
The first major discovery in glacial archeology was the discovery in 1991 of an ice mummy that had lain in the Ötztal Alps for more than five millennia.
Since then, scientists have increasingly found tools of ancient people in the ice, their frozen bodies and biological materials like feces.
You should not treat the latter with disgust – by studying waste products, scientists can learn a lot of interesting things about the nutrition of ancient people (here’s an example).
The best places for archeology
Most often, artifacts and biological materials immured in ice are found in the Alps, Norway, as well as in the northern regions of the USA and Canada.
Separately, it is worth highlighting Russian Siberia – well-preserved mummies of extinct animals are often found there (here is a photo of the mummy of a giant wolf). Almost all the materials found in the ice are in perfect condition.
The fact is that, unlike the earth, multi-year ice is motionless and does not contain aggressive compounds. It is thanks to this that the bodies of ancient people and animals do not decompose and are perfectly preserved.
What can be found in melted ice?
In an even better form, tools and elements of clothing reach our days. Some of the archaeological finds have been in the archives for a long time – scientists talk about their existence several years after their discovery.
So, in 2007, in the ice of the Norwegian mountains of Yutunheimen, archaeologists managed to find leather shoes about 3,100 years old.
This piece of clothing, size 34–36, belonged to either a woman or a teenager. According to researchers, this is the most ancient element of clothing that was found on the territory of Norway.
In addition to ancient shoes, researchers found several arrows in Jotunheimen, as well as a wooden spatula. The nature of the finds directly reminds that all these things belonged to hunters.
The most interesting thing is that the age of one of the arrows was estimated at 6100 years – this is generally the most ancient object found in Norway. Based on the fact that the artifacts are of different ages, the scientists concluded that the place of their discovery was used by Norwegian hunters for thousands of years.
Ancient artifacts are in danger
In the melting ice, scientists have already found a lot of ancient objects and may discover even more in the future. But there is a fear that due to too rapid climate change, most of the artifacts may disappear before scientists find them. After all, think for yourself – if the body of some ancient animal comes out of ice captivity, it will decompose very quickly under the influence of the sun.
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