{"id":21376,"date":"2022-12-22T16:58:44","date_gmt":"2022-12-22T15:58:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=21376"},"modified":"2023-01-03T11:25:12","modified_gmt":"2023-01-03T10:25:12","slug":"frozen-in-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/2022\/12\/22\/frozen-in-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Frozen in time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

FROZEN IN TIME<\/h2>\n\n

RAPIDLY MELTING GLACIERS ARE REVEALING ALL SORTS OF ANCIENT TREASURES. ARCHAEOLOGISTS ARE NOW RACING AGAINST THE CLOCK TO PROTECT THESE ANTIQUITIES BEFORE IT\u2019S TOO LATE <\/h4>\n\n

by JHENI <\/strong>OSMAN<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

\"\"
GETTY IMAGES<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

O n top of a nearby rock, a marmot perches, rotund from a summer of feasting. Cowbells chime in the green pasture below. The path ahead is blocked by a stubborn herd of sheep. As I approach, they scurry up the rocky cliff. <\/p>\n\n

Balancing stone to stone, I cross a small stream, before zigzagging up the mountainside. The higher I go, the harder it is to breathe, the altitude and heavy backpack weighing me down. I\u2019m now past the tree line. The ground is barren, except for some lichen clinging to the rocky ground. <\/p>\n\n

A vulture circles above. Its vast wings outstretched, swooping in for a closer look, before soaring upwards on a thermal and disappearing from view into a cloud. Another looms out of the white-grey sky, then another. Soon five are overhead, eyeing up the carcass of a dead sheep lying beside the path. <\/p>\n\n

Not far ahead is our destination \u2013 the L\u00f6tschepass in the Swiss Alps. Despite the pass being at an altitude of 2,690 metres, it was historically a trade route between the valleys far below. <\/p>\n\n

\u201cColleagues once found the remains of a medieval cow skeleton at the top of the pass,\u201d says archaeologist Regula Gubler. \u201cRadiocarbon dating revealed the cow was from the 15th or 16th Century. There are also written sources from that time showing people brought cattle across the pass to market.\u201d [Read more about radiocarbon dating in Q&A \u2013 How does radiocarbon dating work?<\/a>] <\/p>\n\n

\u201cIt’s incredibly exciting for me to find such artefacts, but it’s also very sad. I’d rather the artefacts remained covered by snow and ice”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

The cow skull was discovered around a decade ago by a team of archaeologists surveying the remains of a permanent ice patch up on the pass. Since then, the site has yielded all sorts of treasures. <\/p>\n\n

\u201cOur best finds have been a whole assemblage of early Bronze Age things, from about 2000 BC,\u201d says Gubler. \u201cThere was a box made out of wood, two bows, fragments of arrow shafts and three flint arrowheads. Inside the box were cereal grains, which tells us what those people took along to cook. It seems like someone left half their equipment up here. The artefacts were really well made \u2013 those people knew how to use raw materials to create leather straps and bindings, for example.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Melting glaciers and ice patches around the world have created an opportunity for archaeologists to dramatically expand their understanding of how mountain life has changed through the millennia. One intriguing find revealed by melting ice was \u00d6tzi \u2018the Iceman\u2019 who lived more than 5,000 years ago. But archaeologists recognise such discoveries are bittersweet. Since Gubler has been involved in the project, the ice patch has dwindled. Now, in the summer months, it is just a small pool of water. <\/p>\n\n

\u201cAs an archaeologist, it’s incredibly exciting for me to find such artefacts,\u201d says Gubler. \u201cBut it\u2019s also very sad. I\u2019d rather the artefacts remained covered by snow and ice.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

Glaciers move downhill, albeit extremely slowly. So whatever artefacts go into the glacier get spat out the other end. Ice patches, on the other hand, are stationary, so artefacts can be trapped in the ice for thousands of years. But as the artefacts emerge from the ice, the race is on to save the ancient treasures before they decay in the open air. Gubler is the only archaeologist working on such sites in this region of Switzerland. <\/p>\n\n

All around the world, archaeologists are facing the same huge challenge of surveying and cataloguing sites in time, because thawing is occurring too fast for their limited resources. <\/p>\n\n