LONDON, ENGLAND—CNN reports that a new study has mapped and dated artifacts and animal bones discovered next to and on top of the Langfonne ice patch in southern Norway’s Jotunheimen Mountains. The oldest of the 68 arrows, arrowheads, and scaring sticks has been dated to 6,000 years ago, while the most recent weapons date to the medieval period. Scaring sticks, once topped with flags, are thought to have been placed in lines to herd reindeer during the hunt, which is thought to have taken place during the summer months, when reindeer moved into the mountains to escape biting insects. According to archaeologist Lars Pilø of the Innlandet County Council, the study suggests that the shifting ice and the flow of water down the mountain displaced and damaged many of the artifacts, making it hard to interpret how the high-elevation hunters might have operated. The quantity of recovered artifacts is also influenced by the size of the ice patch when the items were lost, he added. Read the original scholarly article about this research in The Holocene. To read about more artifacts melting out of ice patches in the Jotunheimen Mountains, go to "Melting Season."
