Уур амьсгалын өөрчлөлтийн улмаас хайлж буй мөсөн талбайнуудаас археологичид түүхийн өмнөх үеийн 48 сум илрүүлсэн нь эрдэмтдийн анхаарлыг татаж байна.
Норвегийн Иннландетийн захиргааны археологич Эспен Финстад тэргүүтэй баг Жотунхеймен уулсын Квитингскёлен орчмын мөсөн талбайнуудад гурван долоо хоногийн турш судалгаа хийжээ. Энэхүү малтлагаар олдсон сумнуудын хамгийн эртний нь занар чулуун зэв бүхий бөгөөд 5000-6000 жилийн настай байж болзошгүй гэж судлаачид таамаглаж байна. Тус багийнхан 2006 оноос хойш 73 археологийн бүсээс 5000 гаруй олдвор илрүүлээд байгаа бөгөөд үүнд нум, хувцас, гутал болон ачааны морины үлдэгдэл зэрэг багтдаг.
Олдворуудын насжилтыг тогтоохдоо өмнө нь олдсон сумнуудтай харьцуулах болон нүүрстөрөгчийн он цаг тогтоох арга (carbon-14) ашиглажээ. Судалгаагаар ясан зэв бүхий сум 5000 орчим жил, цэнгэг усны дунгийн бүрхүүлээр хийсэн зэв бүхий сум 3600 орчим жилийн настай гэж тооцоолсон байна. Мөн 1800 жилийн настай бүрэн бүтэн сум болон 1000-1500 жилийн настай төмөр зэвтэй сумнууд олдсон нь тухайн бүс нутагт олон мянган жилийн турш ан агнуур идэвхтэй өрнөж байсныг илтгэж байна.
Судлаачдын дүгнэлтээр, эртний анчид долдугаар болон наймдугаар сарын халуун өдрүүдэд цаа буга мөсөн дээр гарч ирэн сэрүүцдэг байсныг ашиглан ан хийдэг байжээ. Ларс Холгер Пилогийн 2020 онд хийсэн судалгаагаар Ланфонне мөсөн талбай нь дэлхийн хамгийн олон сум олдсон газар болохыг тогтоосон байна. Мөсөн талбайнууд нь мөсөн голоос ялгаатай нь бага хөдөлдөг тул мод, арьс шир, шөрмөс зэрэг органик материалыг маш сайн хадгалдаг онцлогтой.
Гэвч байгалийн энэхүү өвөрмөц “архив” дэлхийн дулаарлын улмаас хурдацтай мөхөж байна. Эспен Финстадын тайлбарласнаар, мөсөн талбайнууд хайлах нь эртний олдворуудыг ил гаргах боловч нэгэнт агаартай харьцсан олдворууд хурдан мууддаг байна. Түүнчлэн мөс хайлах явцад олдворууд байрлалаасаа шилжих магадлалтай тул археологийн судалгаанд хүндрэл учруулдаг байна. Эрдэмтэд олон газар дахь мөсөн талбайнууд ойрын 20 жилийн дотор бүрмөсөн алга болж болзошгүйг анхааруулж байна.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
↓Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
Archaeologists working in Norway’s Jotunheimen mountains pulled 48 prehistoric arrows out of shrinking ice patches this summer. The oldest, tipped with slate, may be up to 6,000 years old. The team behind the discovery says the frozen ground that preserved these objects for millennia is now beginning to disappear for good.
The fieldwork was led by Espen Finstad, an archaeologist at Innlandet County Municipality who heads Secrets of the Ice, the county’s glacier archaeology program, run with the Museum of Cultural History at the University of Oslo. For three weeks, the team worked the edges of three ice patches called Langfonne, Storfonne and Handklefonne, in the Kvitingskjølen mountain area.
Since the program began in 2006, it has recorded 73 archaeological sites and recovered more than 5,000 artifacts, among them bows, clothing, shoes and the remains of packhorses. Skis about 1,300 years old, which melted out in remarkable condition, count among the earlier finds.
A Slate Point, A Bone Tip And A Cracking Shell
The slate-tipped arrow was found with parts of its wooden shaft at the edge of a shrinking patch. Its age, estimated at 5,000 to 6,000 years, comes from comparison with arrows found earlier, so it is an estimate rather than a measured date. Many earlier arrows from these patches were dated by radiocarbon, which measures how much carbon-14 remains in once-living material such as wood.
Other finds cover a wide span. A bone arrowhead found with parts of its shaft right beside the ice is put at about 5,000 years old, and a freshwater mussel shell arrowhead is roughly 3,600 years old.
“The arrowhead is fragile and has begun to split,” the archaeologists write in their field report, published by Secrets of the Ice.
A separate shaft piece of about the same age had been reinforced with animal sinew and birch bark around the nock, the notched end that sits on the bowstring. Kjetil Loftsgarden of the Museum of Cultural History was photographed holding a complete arrow, bone point and wooden shaft, about 1,800 years old. The newest arrowheads are iron and, according to Science Norway, only between 1,000 and 1,500 years old.
Why Hunters Climbed Onto The Ice
Reindeer explain the arrows. A 2020 study of Langfonne, led by Lars Holger Pilø, concluded that hunts probably took place mainly on hot days in July and August, when large numbers of reindeer gather on ice and snow to cool off and avoid botflies.
The team recorded eight stone-built hunting blinds near the ice. The study counted 68 arrows and five loose arrowheads at Langfonne, which it called the most arrow-rich known ice patch site in the world. Finstad says more than 100 arrowheads and shafts have now come from a single patch over the years.
Preservation is the other half of the story. An ice patch survives from year to year but barely moves, unlike a glacier, where, as the authors put it, movement tears objects apart. The result, in the team’s words, is the preservation of organic materials such as wood, hide, sinew and textiles, which would normally decay.
The Oldest Ice, The Oldest Finds
In the program’s first years, most recovered objects were under 2,000 years old, and many dated to the Viking Age. A growing share is now older, many from the Stone Age and Bronze Age.
“In many places, ice that has survived for thousands of years is now beginning to disappear completely. And this is where we see the connection: the oldest ice contains the oldest finds.” the archaeologists write.
During the Little Ice Age, which lasted from roughly 1450 to 1920, Langfonne covered nearly 1 square mile (2.5 square kilometers). By 2014, it had split into three patches totaling about a tenth of that. According to Finstad, who spoke to Science Norway:
“There has been ice here for 6,000-7,000 years,” he explained. “Nature has been warning us and sending signals for many years. But now it’s giving up. Now it is simply going to melt.”
There are limits to what the finds reveal. Meltwater and ice movement can carry objects away, so where an arrow turns up is not always where it was lost. Based on two decades of observations, the team says the ice at many sites may be completely gone within 20 years, and objects decay quickly once exposed.
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