Melting Glaciers Present Opportunity and Devastation
Artifacts melting from mountain snow tell new stories, but do not last long.
In the high-altitude places of Alaskan mountains and around the world, archaeologists are scrambling to recover and learn what they can from artifacts revealed in melting snow.
These remains have been trapped in glaciers for thousands of years and are very exciting because the preservation in such conditions can be fantastic. Artifacts made from materials that rarely last long enough for archaeologists to see them, such as an antler point (right), wood, and animal and human remains are being revealed for the first time.
Unfortunately, these materials are in equilibrium in the ice and once removed by rising temperatures break down at an alarming pace. Combined with the remote location, difficult access, and a very limited number of archaeologists many of these clues to the ancient past will disappear before they can be studied.
Still though, what we learn from what we can recover is exciting. For example, we rarely get to see tools people used for hafting points into spear or arrow shafts.
Continued on page 17
Excavation Reveals Antient Klutz
Archaeologists find site of history’s clumsiest man.
French archaeologists have found the site and remains of what they believe to be the earliest known case of severe butterfingers.
“Based on their size, their distribution throughout the dwelling, and the sheer number of clay fragments recovered from the site, we believe this to be the home of one of the oldest putzes on record to regularly trip over his own feet, causing any armful of pots he was carrying to shatter on the ground,” said lead researcher Dr. Claire Andrieux.
Continued on page 5
Joke of the Day
Q: Why is it so hard to find an appropriate joke for this section?
A: Because archaeologists are a dirty lot.
Q: Is Indiana Jones a terrible archaeologist?
A: Yes!... By our standards today at least.
Nowadays we understand that the artifact is a clue to revealing past stories. However, in the 1930s archaeologists had no idea that this was possible!
So Indiana Jones treating the artifacts as “things” to be acquired, is actually pretty accurate for the time.
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