Ever since we started our fieldwork, we have received many offers from people who want to come and help us. We really appreciate that, but so far we have only rarely accepted volunteers. The main reason is the unpredictable weather conditions, which may lead to cancellation or rescheduling of fieldwork on very short notice. This …
Enok Groven was born and raised in Bergen, Norway. He works as an international model, and is very into Viking culture, including re-enactment and studies in Old Norse. In 2014, he participated in a history-based reality TV series in Norway and became instantly famous for his “I can do it!” approach to all challenges. He …
The archaeology of snow and ice does not get any more extreme than on Mount Everest. High altitude, thin air, strong winds, constant cold and a 2000 m drop on one side of the survey area – this is glacial archaeology on steroids. The reward could be solving the greatest mountaineering mystery of all. The history of the attempts to climb the …
I remember shaking my head in disbelief when we found what looked like a giant wooden slingshot, melting out of the ice. When we discovered what the object really was, we got even more excited. It opened the door to a unknown prehistoric world of ice and snow. The discovery It was August 4th 2011, the …
An outbreak of anthrax in Siberia in 2016 caused the death of a 12-year-old-boy, hospitalization of scores of other people and the death of more than two thousand reindeer. The outbreak was traced back to an old reindeer corpse, which had melted out of the permafrost during what was the warmest Arctic summer on record. …
It was a stormy night at the Lendbreen ice patch. The noise from the wind and the meltwater rushing down the ice was deafening. I had nearly fallen asleep, when I heard the sound of the zipper for my outer tent. It was Elling. “My tent is down. You are getting company!” Elling Utvik Wammer …
Finds from the ice are sometimes handed in to us, even though they are found outside our county jurisdiction. This is a direct consequence of the national media attention that our work in Oppland gets. When we receive the finds, we make sure that we note all the relevant information, such as GPS-coordinates and a …
The glaciated mountain pass at Lendbreen has given us a number of great finds, such as an Iron Age tunic, a Viking Age mitten and dead packhorses. In addition to these unique finds, the site has yielded a variety of artefact groups. One such group of artefacts is the subject of this blogpost – fifty-seven small …
What are glacier archaeologists doing in the winter? Survey and other fieldwork is obviously off the table for quite a few months. Well, we are sitting here in our bunker, following the development in our snow situation room. No, just kidding, we are not. We use the winter to analyse the finds, write site reports, plan …
The famous reindeer hunter Jo Gjende was out hunting on the Memurubrean glacier in Jotunheimen. To his great surprise, he met a local farmer carrying a saddle on his back. Upon enquiring, the farmer told him a sad story. The farmer had lost his horse to a crevasse. The unlucky animal was stuck in the …