Level 1 — Absolute Beginner
In Norway, ice on the mountains is melting. Under the ice, people found old arrows.
They found 48 arrows. One arrow is 5,000 to 6,000 years old.
Old hunters used the arrows to hunt reindeer. The hunters lived long ago.
The ice may be gone in about twenty years. Scientists want to find things before that.
- Norway
- A country in northern Europe.
- ice
- Frozen water.
- melt
- To change from ice to water.
- arrow
- A thin stick that you shoot from a bow.
- hunter
- A person who finds and kills animals for food.
- reindeer
- A large deer that lives in cold places.
- mountain
- A very high hill.
- scientist
- A person who studies nature.
Level 2 — Elementary
Archaeologists working on Norway's Jotunheimen mountains found 48 prehistoric arrows in three weeks. The finds came from melting ice patches in the Kvitingskjolen area.
One of the oldest arrows has a slate arrowhead and a wooden shaft. It is about 5,000 to 6,000 years old and still shows traces of the bindings that held it together.
The work belongs to the Secrets of the Ice programme in Innlandet county. Since 2006 the team has recorded 73 sites and recovered more than 5,000 objects, mostly linked to ancient reindeer hunting.
The bad news is that the ice is shrinking fast. Based on 20 years of observations, ice at many sites could disappear within about two decades.
- archaeologist
- A scientist who studies the past by digging up objects.
- prehistoric
- From the time before writing was used.
- slate
- A grey rock that splits into thin flat pieces.
- shaft
- The long thin body of an arrow.
- binding
- Cord used to tie things together.
- programme
- An organized plan of work.
- site
- A place where something is found.
- observation
- Careful watching over time.
Level 3 — Intermediate
During a three week expedition to the Kvitingskjolen area of Norway's Jotunheimen mountains, archaeologists recovered 48 prehistoric arrows from the ice patches at Langfonne, Storfonne and Handklefonne. One find stands out: a slate-tipped arrow with a wooden shaft and traces of prehistoric bindings, estimated at 5,000 to 6,000 years old.
The team belongs to the Glacial Archaeology Programme in Innlandet, known as Secrets of the Ice. Since 2006 it has recorded 73 archaeological sites and recovered more than 5,000 artifacts, including arrows, bows and other equipment tied to ancient reindeer hunting.
Ice preserves organic material such as wood and sinew that would rot almost anywhere else, which is why these mountains hold such a rich record. Yet the same warming that exposes the objects also destroys them once they thaw.
Observations over the past two decades suggest that ice at many sites could vanish completely within about 20 years, turning every summer's fieldwork into a race against time.
- expedition
- An organized journey for a special purpose.
- recovered
- Found and taken back.
- estimated
- Calculated roughly.
- artifact
- An object made by people in the past.
- organic
- Coming from living things.
- sinew
- Strong tissue that joins muscle to bone.
- thaw
- To melt after being frozen.
- fieldwork
- Research done outside a laboratory.
Level 4 — Advanced
On the high ice patches of Norway's Jotunheimen range, archaeologists have lifted 48 prehistoric arrows in the space of a three week expedition to Kvitingskjolen. The haul includes an arrow with a slate head, a wooden shaft and vestiges of its original lashings, dated to roughly 5,000 to 6,000 years ago.
The recoveries are the latest from the Glacial Archaeology Programme in Innlandet, known as Secrets of the Ice, whose teams worked the ice at Langfonne, Storfonne and Handklefonne. Since 2006 the programme has logged 73 sites and retrieved over 5,000 artifacts, much of it equipment used in the pursuit of wild reindeer.
The bargain at the heart of glacial archaeology is a cruel one. The cold that entombs wood, sinew and fibre also ensures that, once the ice yields, organic remains degrade within seasons unless someone arrives in time to collect them.
Two decades of monitoring suggest that the oldest ice at many sites could be gone within about 20 years. Each field season is therefore less a leisurely survey than a salvage operation, with the past surfacing exactly as fast as it is being lost.
- vestiges
- Small remaining traces of something.
- lashings
- Cords used to bind things firmly.
- haul
- A quantity of things gathered or obtained.
- retrieve
- To get something back.
- entomb
- To bury as if in a tomb.
- degrade
- To break down and decay.
- salvage
- The rescue of things from loss or damage.
- surface
- To come up into view.
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