Norway’s melting mountain ice reveals 48 prehistoric arrows, including one up to 6,000 years old

Norway’s rapidly retreating mountain ice has revealed 48 prehistoric arrows, including one estimated to be between 5,000 and 6,000 years old, as archaeologists race to recover artefacts before exposure to air and sunlight causes them to deteriorate. The discoveries were made during a three-week field expedition in the Jotunheimen mountains, where researchers have been studying archaeological remains preserved in ice for two decades, as per a report by Smithsonian Magazine.The latest finds include a slate arrowhead with parts of its wooden shaft that researchers estimate is 5,000 to 6,000 years old. The findings were made by the Secrets of the Ice project, a collaboration involving Innlandet County Council and the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo.The discoveries come as archaeologists say the character of the material emerging from Norway's mountain ice is changing. When the glacial archaeology programme began in 2006, most of the objects being recovered were less than 2,000 years old, with many dating to the Viking Age. Now, increasingly ancient objects from the Stone Age and Bronze Age are appearing as older layers of ice disappear.48 arrows emerge from melting iceThe latest exp...