The melting glacier in Tatshenshini-Alsek Park

The ice fields are melting, and as they melt they are giving us a glimpse into ancient life.

Recently, the 9,300 year old shaft of a hunting dart was revealed as the ice withdrew in Northern Canada. This is one of the oldest archaeological objects ever found in that country.

This object is remarkable because it is made of wood. In Canada and in North America, organic artifacts are very rare - usually the only things remaining are stone tools, because that is all that remains in the acidic soils. However, the ice preserves objects, revealing wood, bone, sinew, feathers, and sometimes even mummified bodies.

This dart has been dated at about 4,300 years old.

Herds of caribou went onto the ice fields to escape flies and mosquitos, but encountered a new danger - hungry human hunters! When the hunters' darts or arrows missed the caribou, they were often lost. These objects became preserved by the ice.

Some other recent discoveries:

In 1999 modern day hunters found the frozen 550 year old remains of an ancient hunter, now known as Long Ago Person Found.

In 1991, two German mountaineers found the frozen body of "Iceman" in a glacier - high in the Alps on the Italian-Austrian border.

A leather pouch was found - dropped by a hunter about 1,400 years ago. It was elaborately stitched with a sinew cord.

Numerous shafts and points have been discovered from the beginning of the bow-and-arrow age in North America which began about 1,500 years ago.

Note: Nobody has ever found anything related to Throps or Squallhoots.

Archaeology Links, Iceman Murdered!, Glacier Man
Lost Worlds Rediscovered as Canadian Glaciers Melt
Rare Artifacts Melt Out of Ice
Prehistoric Yukon Hunters Left Treasures
Who's Buried in the Ice?