Melting arctic ice is rarely ever said to be a good thing. Usually what’s exposed by melting ice and permafrost (frozen soil) is methane gas. However, this time the ice revealed ancient hunting artifacts- treasure to the anthropologist. A recent press release from University of Calgary’s Arctic Institute of North America reported that in high in the Mackenzie Mountains in Canada’s Northwest Territories melting ice patches have exposed hunting tools, some dating back thousands of years.
The results have been extraordinary. Andrews and his team have found 2400-year-old spear throwing tools, a 1000 year-old ground squirrel snare, and bows and arrows dating back 850 years…”The implements are truly amazing. There are wooden arrows and dart shafts so fine you can’t believe someone sat down with a stone and made them.”
Tom Andrews of the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre in Yellowknife, NT Canada
This has become a race against time. The ice continues to melt, and if artifacts are exposed and not removed from the ground within a few years they would be destroyed either by being trampled by caribou or dissolving in the acidic soils. Tom Andrews, who was the lead archaeologist on the International Polar Year Ice Patch Study, says this has now become and “ethical obligation to collect these artifacts as they are exposed.” I couldn’t agree with this statement more. It is an ethical duty to study those who came before us so that they might live on forever.
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[...] the melting ice patches. You can read that the discovery in Canada’s Northwest Territory here. Today I read a report of another ancient hunting tool revealed by the melting ice. This time the [...]