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Long-lost artifacts from hundreds or even thousands of years ago continue to emerge from glaciers as they melt.
Glaciers are large bodies of ice that constantly change and move under their own weight. For some areas, glaciers are vital to local ecosystems as they provide a year-round supply of water. Many glaciers are also well-loved landmarks and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) sites.
While glaciers constantly move and change, many have been receding in recent years due to climate change. A new study by UNESCO and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has found that many of the world's glaciers could be gone by 2050.
As the glaciers melt, explorers are uncovering long-lost artifacts that had been trapped in the ice. Most recently, objects that had been trapped in the ice were recovered from the Walsh Glacier in Kluane National Park and Reserve in Canada's Yukon Territory.
Professional mountain explorer Griffin Post, along with Teton Gravity Research and glaciologist Dorota Medrzycka, found a camera cache, tents and mountaineering gear.
The gear belonged to mountaineers Bradford Washburn and Robert Bates, who ditched the equipment while exploring the area in 1937.
Post, who dedicated the last 18 months to searching the Welsh glacier, told Newsweek that he believes there could be many other artifacts just waiting to be discovered as the world's glaciers continue to move and change.
Post said while it is hard to know how much of a role climate change had in uncovering the equipment, it "definitely made [their] job easier."
"I think particularly in the Alps, for instance, where people have been traveling on glaciers for significantly longer than parts of North America, we're starting to see more evidence of different objects and artifacts melting out," Post said.
In August, two sets of decades-old human remains were found along with wreckage from an airplane were found in the thawing glaciers of the Swiss Alps in August.
A team of scientists from Norway and the United Kingdom also went on a mission to the mountains of Oppland, Norway in 2018, and discovered more than 2,000 artifacts, including Iron Age and Bronze Age weapons. The scientists were racing to uncover artifacts hidden in the glaciers as the ice continues to rapidly melt.
A mummy was also discovered in 1991 in a glacier near the Austrian-Italian border. It turned out to be 5,300 years old.
These discoveries can also inform scientists as to how the glaciers are moving and changing over time. The next step for the artifacts found in the Welsh glacier discovery is for scientists to try and recover the undeveloped photographs within the camera. This will hopefully give climate scientists insight into how the glacier looked in the 1930s, compared to how it looks now.
The camera was also found over 12 miles away from where it was originally dropped, meaning scientists will be able to study the movements of the surging glacier over time.
"In terms of North America, where, you know, a lot of those first exploration exploratory expeditions were in the Yukon in the 30s, I definitely think there will be more artifacts melting out from excess what expeditions have abandoned in the past and hopefully there's enough of a historical record to see where those artifacts started their journey and where they ended up," Post said.
About the writer
Robyn White is a Newsweek Nature Reporter based in London, UK. Her focus is reporting on wildlife, science and the ... Read more