Glaciers Retreat, Revealing Rare Artifacts

News March 21, 2013

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OSLO, NORWAY—More than 1,600 ancient objects have been found in southern Norway as its glaciers retreat. Some of the artifacts are made of rarely preserved organic materials. One such item is a tunic made of greenish-brown lamb’s wool in a diamond pattern. It has been dated to A.D. 300, and may have been lost along a Roman trade route. “The tunic was well used—it was repaired several times,” said Marianne Vedeler of Norway’s Museum of Cultural History. Researchers wonder why someone would have taken off the tunic while traveling so close to a glacier.

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