There is a lot of on-going research projects on the archaeological material from glaciers and ice patches. The projects aim to save the artefacts from the melting ice and undertake scientific analysis of the finds. This research is badly needed, as the historical archives of the ice and the finds they contain is being destroyed by global warming. Today, the emphasis is on rescuing the finds, but future research may show that the climate information stored in the ice is just as important. The ice also contains biological material of great scientific significance. This material may for instance be used for research into ancient DNA.

The ice tunnel in Juvfonne, which is also used for research projects
The ice tunnel in the Juvfonne ice patch. A number of dating samples have been taken from the innermost ice layers, which show that the ice is thousands of years old. Photo: Oppland County Council.

SPARC is a cross-disciplinary project with a main focus on the finds from Central Norway. Project website: http://www.ntnu.no/vitenskapsmuseet/sparc

Jørgen Rosvold at NTNU has a nice webpage on his work on biological material from the ice. It can be found here.

Kalteseis is a project on mountain passes in the Alps. Project website: http://kalteseis.com/

The North-West Territories ice patch project has a print-on-demand book on the project: http://ipy.nwtresearch.com/Documents/Hunters%20of%20the%20Alpine%20Ice.pdf

Alberta:
https://albertashistoricplaces.wordpress.com/2015/10/14/rocky-mountain-alpine-project-update/

Glacier National Park Ice-Patch project: http://www.nps.gov/articles/glacicepatch.htm

Unfortunately, the ice finds from Oppland do not have a research Project yet, but we are working on seeking funding for this. A major step will be the publication of the finds, in close cooperation with the Museum of Cultural History.

If you are aware of research projects that are missing here, please let us know.

 

Scientific conference

The conference Frozen Pasts is where scientists working with finds from the ice come together and present their latest findings. The last conference was in Whitehorse, Yukon in 2013. The next will be in Innsbruck in October 2016.

Frozen Pasts has a Facebook page.