We expanded our glacial archaeological fieldwork in 2010, thanks to government funding. For the first time, we had a team in the field that targeted multiple sites during the field season. However, the funding did not permit large-scale systematic surveys like that conducted at Juvfonne the previous year.
Nevertheless, we carried out exploratory surveys of several sites. In addition to recovering many artefacts, these surveys provided valuable information on both the number of finds and the logistics required for conducting surveys there. Altogether, we targeted nine sites, and, furthermore, our long-time collaborator Per Dagsgard reported a find from a new ice patch. To keep the focus clear, we will concentrate on our primary fieldwork in this post, highlighting the main sites and finds of the year.
There was little snow during the winter of 2009/2010, and by the start of the field season in mid-August, conditions for surveys were favourable. However, weather in the high mountains is unpredictable, and two snowfalls in late August caused a prolonged halt in fieldwork. Additionally, winter snow arrived early, which made the field season feel rather truncated.
Fieldwork in the Lomseggen Mountain Range
In 2010, we targeted sites in the Lomseggen mountain range on three occasions. The national Norwegian television broadcaster, NRK, expressed interest in joining us in the field to produce a short documentary. They accompanied us on our first fieldwork trip on August 9 and 10, during which we conducted limited surveys at the Lendbreen and Åndfonne sites.
Lendbreen
Snow still covered the higher parts of Lendbreen. During our first visit, we crossed a large snow-filled depression at the summit without noticing anything unusual. It was only the following year, in 2011, when all the snow in the depression melted away during a warm summer, that we discovered what was hidden beneath.
We documented a line of scaring sticks and wooden posts positioned between the lower edge of the Lendbreen ice and the lake. It appeared to have been used to guide reindeer into the lake, where they would have been easy targets for hunters. Radiocarbon dating of a sample from one of the scaring sticks indicated a date of AD 345–410.
Åndfonne
However, it was at neighbouring Åndfonne that we made the discovery of the year: a large cache of scaring sticks, left among the stones approximately 1,500 years ago during the Iron Age. When we first visited the site, the cache was still partly encased in ice. We decided to leave it in place to allow natural melting to expose it fully. Ten days later, we returned to find the cache completely uncovered, enabling us to recover it in its entirety.
We also discovered three Iron Age arrows at Åndfonne in 2010. During our survey around the entire ice patch, we gained an understanding of where the finds were concentrated. Additionally, a local mountain hiker discovered a fragment of a hide shoe at Åndfonne, which we radiocarbon-dated to AD 430-540.
Fieldwork at Langfonne
The field team visited Langfonne on August 23, where they promptly discovered two arrows—one dating to the Iron Age and the other to the early Medieval Period. They camped high on the site but awoke on the morning of August 24 to find themselves in a snow-covered landscape. As a result, the survey had to be discontinued, and they returned to the lowlands.
Fieldwork at Juvfonne
Later that week, more snow fell, and conditions became challenging. It was not until we returned to Juvfonne on September 9 and 10 that more sustained fieldwork could be resumed. We surveyed the newly exposed terrain along the edge of the ice and collected an additional 58 scaring sticks. A journalist from Reuters visited our fieldwork at Juvfonne, marking the first time that international media showed interest in our work. This experience opened our eyes to the broader significance of our research beyond our immediate circle. You can find the Reuters article here.
The Ice Tunnel
2010 also saw the opening of the Climate Park at Juvfonne. Work on the ice tunnel began in May. Initially, we were assisted by a group of French mountain guides with experience in cutting tunnels through glaciers. They used a specialised ice pick to chip away at the ice. Despite the hard work, the process was remarkably efficient. In June, Norwegian ice artist Peder Istad shaped the interior of the tunnel, sculpturing the ice and illuminating it with LED lights.
The ice tunnel opened to the public on June 22 and quickly became popular. Erik Solheim, the Minister for the Environment, along with other key decision-makers, visited the ice tunnel in August. They saw the ice melt and the archaeological finds firsthand. The visit marked a decisive step towards securing permanent funding for a glacier archaeology program in Innlandet.
Summing up 2010
2010 became a year of intensive fieldwork after we received our first substantial government funding. We targeted nine sites, some of which we visited repeatedly. A 1,500-year-old cache of scaring sticks at Åndfonne was the most significant discovery of the year. The Climate Park and the ice tunnel at Juvfonne opened to the public in June. Reuters published the first international news story about our work. All in all, an effort we could be happy with. What would 2011 bring?
Posts for other years of fieldwork can be found here.
If you came right here, you may want to read these two posts first: 1935-2005 and 2006.
The 2007 fieldwork
After the 2006 big melt, we received limited funding to continue the work in 2007. We spent the money by doing exploratory surveys on two sites – Juvfonne and Lauvhøe ice patches.
Juvfonne Ice Patch
The Juvfonne ice patch (1850 m) is located on the Juvass plateau in the Jotunheimen mountains. In August 2007, local reindeer herder Jan Stokstad, who also participated in the 2006 survey at Langfonne, discovered numerous scaring sticks and stone-built hunting blinds at the site. We immediately prioritised this location, as we had been searching for an easily accessible site to gauge the number of potential finds it might contain and to estimate the work required for documentation and retrieval. Our goal was to develop a long-term, funded program for rescuing artefacts melting out of the ice, and we needed these numbers to inform the budget.
Juvfonne was an ideal test case from a practical perspective. As the only ice patch in our county, it is close to a paved road, providing easy access. The nearby Juvasshytta mountain cabin offered a place to eat, sleep, and shelter if needed.
Elling Utvik Wammer and Lars Pilø conducted the main fieldwork at Juvfonne in September 2007. They surveyed a 50-metre-wide sector perpendicular to the ice patch, recorded the positions of all scaring sticks within the survey area, and collected a selection for radiocarbon dating.
Over the winter of 2007–2008, we submitted twelve samples from the collected scaring sticks for radiocarbon dating. The results revealed that people used Juvfonne as a reindeer hunting site during the 5th and 6th centuries AD and again in the Viking Age, a few centuries later.
In addition to surveying the sector and sampling the objects, the team also measured the edge of the ice – a practice that would become routine in systematic surveys in the years to come.
In addition to the artefacts, the team also observed numerous stone-built hunting blinds at Juvfonne. Hunters used these structures as hideouts, concealing themselves until the reindeer came close enough to shoot with bow and arrow. The optimal shooting distance would have been as short as 10–20 metres.
During the fieldwork at Juvfonne, glaciologists visited the site and showed considerable interest in the artefacts recovered from the ice. A team from the national Norwegian broadcaster, NRK, filmed a news feature on-site, which aired on both regional and national TV news. The strong interest in what was, admittedly, a fairly small-scale survey at Juvfonne suggested early on that the ice finds held significant appeal for both scientists and the general public.
We returned to Juvfonne for a much larger survey in 2009 (see below).
Lauvhøe Ice Patch
In 2007, Reidar Marstein returned to the ice patch below Mount Lauvhøe, where a crossbow bolt was discovered in 2006. There, he found two arrows and several wooden sticks. In September 2007, Wammer and Marstein returned to the ice patch on a day hike to investigate and collect the finds. It became a very busy day.
They documented and collected the two arrows that Marstein had previously found and also discovered a third arrow. While examining the find spot of the third arrow, they had a surprise. Fragments of fletching appeared among the stones—the first such discovery in Innlandet. Unsure of the feathers’ fragility, they decided to leave them in place temporarily and covered the find spot.
A week later, Pilø and Marstein returned to retrieve the fletching. Pilø had consulted conservators at the archaeological museum for advice on handling the delicate find, which presented a unique challenge. Archaeologists typically find fragile artifacts buried in soil and stabilize them before lifting. In this case, the thousand-year-old feathers lay exposed on top of stones. After much discussion, we found a simple solution: we slid an iron spatula underneath the feathers and gently transferred them onto the spatula. We then placed the feathers into a finds bag along with a piece of cardboard to prevent bending. Finally, we carefully packed the bag containing the feathers into a box to protect it from pressure.
As it turned out, the three feathers were very well preserved and could have been handled more straightforwardly. However, as this was our first feather discovery, it seemed wise to err on the side of caution.
The Lauvhøe ice patch varies considerably in size depending on the amount of snowfall. Only the southernmost section contains a preserved ice core, and all the arrows were found in this area. The remainder of the ice patch has intermittent snow cover without permanent ice.
The three arrows found in 2007 date to AD 300–600, the Viking Age, and the mid-15th century, respectively. Late medieval arrows are very rare in Innlandet, making the Lauvhøe arrow an exceptional find. The scarcity of late medieval arrows is likely related to a low reindeer population at the time. Hunters nearly drove the reindeer to extinction during the Early and High Medieval periods (AD 1050–1350), when a market developed for reindeer pelts and antlers.
In the northern part, there was only intermittent snow cover present. Here was a large concentration of wooden sticks. Their preservation was poor due to the lack of permanent ice in this area. Wammer and Marstein collected four of these sticks, and we radiocarbon-dated one of them to the 11th and 12th centuries AD. These sticks are more robust than scaring sticks and are of a later date. Hunters likely built them as part of a solid fence to prevent reindeer from exiting the ice patch in that direction. They also connected them to other hunting installations on the plain below.
Reidar discovered a few more artefacts at Lauvhøe in 2011. We returned to Lauvhøe for a large systematic survey in 2017 and again for a brief monitoring visit in 2023.
2008 – too much snow and no funding
After the promising discoveries of 2006 and 2007, 2008 was a disappointing year. We had no funding, and heavy winter snow rendered it impractical to survey known sites. Consequently, we decided to suspend fieldwork.
In a way, this turned out to be a blessing—not only for the ice, which received a brief respite from melting that year. It allowed us to develop our plans for a larger programme to address the needs for rescue work. If you have worked with funding programmes, you will know that even when the necessity for a specific program seems self-evident to you, there are many initiatives competing for funding. Navigating the funding landscape and securing support—especially long-term funding—can be very challenging, regardless of how urgent and well-documented the needs may be.
Let me provide an example. Researchers discovered in the late 1980s that some mountainsides in the fjord landscape of Western Norway were unstable. Measurements indicated that cracks were developing in the cliffs. If they expanded, the mountainsides could eventually collapse into the fjords, generating deadly tsunamis. Don’t just take my word for it—this occurred twice in the early 20th century, resulting in significant loss of life and property. Lives could have been saved with an early warning system in the mountains that would alert residents if the cracks began to expand rapidly, allowing them time to evacuate. Surely, such a life-and-death program would have received immediate funding? No, it took more than a decade of meetings and lobbying before the first monitoring systems were installed.
This serves as a sobering piece of background for archaeologists trying to rescue well-preserved artefacts emerging from melting ice. For us, this is a noble and worthwhile cause, but we wondered if these finds were significant enough in the public eye to secure funding. It became clear that we needed to broaden the relevance of the finds beyond their archaeological significance. Climate change, the context of the finds, the reason they were melting out, needed to become an integral part of our work.
During the winter of 2008/2009, we began to develop ideas to transform the Juvfonne ice patch into an outdoor arena for public outreach on glacial archaeology and climate change—a climate park. Politicians often travel to the high Arctic to witness the effects of climate change, as these impacts are very visible there. However, the effects are equally apparent in the high mountains, particularly in Innlandet. Given its proximity to a paved road, Juvfonne seemed an excellent choice for such an outdoor outreach arena. Even better was that there was already on-going climate monitoring on the Juvass plateau near Juvfonne, including permafrost temperature measurements and an automatic weather station.
If Juvfonne were to be developed as a climate park with many visitors, we first needed to conduct a large systematic survey of the entire site to collect the numerous finds that had been exposed. We also needed to document all the hunting blinds and other ancient monuments. Fortunately, we were able to secure funding for this work through the county council.
2008 also saw the first international conference on glacial archaeology and climate change in Bern, Switzerland: “Ötzi, Schnidi and the Reindeer Hunters: Ice Patch Archeology and Holocene Climate Change.”, where we participated. “Frozen Pasts” was established in the aftermath of the conference – an international network of archaeologists, researchers, heritage managers, students and others interested in frozen archaeology and history.
2009 – Back to Juvfonne
We returned to Juvfonne in early August 2009 for a large systematic survey, working on the site for 18 days. This was likely the first time the exposed ground surrounding an ice patch had been surveyed in such a systematic manner. Previous surveys of find-producing ice patches had focused primarily on recovering artefacts at the edge of the ice. The 2009 survey at Juvfonne demonstrated that there were also finds up to one hundred metres away from the ice’s edge.
We ended up covering an area of 50,000 m² with a dense survey, resulting in the recovery of 400 artefacts. This was an astounding number—more than had been recovered from the mountain ice across all of North America at the time.
Nearly all the finds were scaring sticks. The distribution of the finds indicated a clear line of scaring sticks in the northeast. This line would have formed a fence to block reindeer from accessing or exiting the ice patch from/to that direction.
We also mapped all the stone-built hunting blinds at Juvfonne. In total, we discovered 51 hunting blinds, most of which were located on the eastern side of the river. The line of scaring sticks blocking the entrance/exit would have directed the reindeer towards the hunters concealed in the blinds.
We invited two colleagues from the glacial archaeology community to join us at Juvfonne. Albert Hafner from Switzerland (whom we had met at the conference in Bern the year before), the investigator of the renowned Schnidejoch site participated. So did Martin Callanan from the University of Trondheim, who investigated the ice finds north of our county border, and was later to become the editor for the Journal of Glacial Archaeology.
This provided us with an opportunity to exchange views and experiences, which proved to be very useful. Hafner shared insights about his work in the mountain pass at Schnidejoch. He had encountered a vast array of finds on this site. We realised that mountain pass sites like Schnidejoch were quite different from the reindeer hunting sites we were familiar with in Innlandet. Inspired by this, we began to dream about discovering our own mountain pass site. Two years later, this was precisely what happened.
We were unable to survey the entire terrain surrounding the ice patch. As a result, we only measured the northern part of the scaring stick fence without collecting any finds from that area. This approach seemed reasonable, as leaving a section with artefacts behind would allow us to observe how they deteriorated over the years. Unfortunately, this plan did not work out as expected. A tourist discovered the scaring sticks, collected them, and then approached us to show “his” finds. It served as a reminder that leaving artefacts on sites can lead to problems, especially in areas with high foot traffic.
As mentioned, Juvfonne is located near a paved road and a mountain cabin. It was used for summer skiing in the 1970s before a large summer ski centre opened on a nearby glacier. Consequently, there were many modern finds on the site, which is usually not the case with our ice sites. We encountered modern textiles, slalom poles, iron nails, bullets, and building materials. In some parts of the site, it felt more like a modern rubbish removal operation than archaeological fieldwork. Given the excellent preservation of the Iron Age artefacts, it was sometimes confusing to distinguish between old and modern finds of wood.
One of the modern items we discovered was a wooden stretcher from a 1972 rescue operation. A skier at the summer ski centre broke a leg and needed to be transported down to the road. Winter road markers had been repurposed to create a makeshift stretcher. The stretcher was subsequently left behind, presumably because a proper stretcher had become available.
In addition to the archaeological fieldwork, significant outreach efforts were conducted at Juvfonne concurrently. Local schoolchildren visited the ice patch, and there was even a small climate camp for youth with international participation. These activities marked the first steps in establishing the Climate Park as an outdoor outreach arena. The Climate Park opened in 2010.
We returned to Juvfonne in late September 2009 to collect new finds that had emerged from the retreating ice. We made additional visits in 2010 following further ice retreat, as well as on several other occasions in the years to come. The site would also be monitored by the guides from the climate park. They alerted us to new finds when they melted out of the ice.
Finds From Langfonne and Åndfonne
In addition to the archaeological fieldwork at Juvfonne in 2009. finds from two known sites were also discovered and handed in to us – an arrow from Langfonne and scaring sticks from Åndfonne.
2007-2009: Summing up
In addition to the many artefacts, the systematic survey at Juvfonne provided us with valuable information on how to conduct a survey of a large glacial archaeological site. This would provide important background knowledge when we tackled new sites in the years to come. Juvfonne was an important first step in the development of our methodological toolbox.
It was heartening to experience the great public interest in our work. It made us determined to pursue public outreach as in integral part of our efforts in the years to come.
Lack of long-term funding was still a big problem. We needed to solve this as quickly as possible to be able to extend our fieldwork to new sites, now that Juvfonne was completely surveyed. The clock was ticking.
If you came straight here, you may want to read this post about the pre-2006 ice finds first.
After two winters of heavy snow in 2004 and 2005, the summer of 2006 was exceptionally warm. By September, the accumulated snow from the previous years had melted, and the ice melt started to go deep. The melting continued until early October, longer than in typical years when it usually halts in September.
First Finds from Langfonne Ice Patch
Reidar Marstein, our local helper from Lom, began finding scaring sticks at Storfonne ice patch in late August. He had also discovered scaring sticks there in 2002 and 2003.
In early September, Reidar discovered the first artefacts at the neighbouring Langfonne ice patch – two arrows. Remarkably, one of these artefacts pre-dated the Iron Age — an arrow shaft made from a shoot of Fly Honeysuckle, with sinew still preserved around the front. We only discovered that it dated to 1600 BC (Early Bronze Age) when we radiocarbon-dated all the Langfonne arrows ten years later. The other arrow Reidar found had an iron arrowhead, dating it to the Late Iron Age (AD 600-1050).
Reidar continued to monitor the melt at Langfonne during weekly visits.
When Reidar Found the Shoe at Langfonne
Reidar explains what happened next:
It was my visit on September 17 that became the greatest adventure. I started early in the morning and reached the Langfonne ice patch around 9 am. It was unbelievable how much the ice patch had melted just during the last week. With great excitement, I started my survey around the ice. It had to have been a long time since the last human had set foot here.
After a while, a hunting blind appeared. About 25 metres above the hunting blind, I noticed something lying on the ground. I got my camera and GPS ready, as I had to note the location of the find and take a picture of it. After lifting the object with great care and gently removing some glacial silt, I realised that I was holding a shoe in my hand. Not a regular shoe, but a shoe that had to be incredibly old. I felt confident that it was a reindeer hunter with bow-and-arrow, who had once used it. It was a strange feeling standing at the edge of the ice holding the ancient shoe …
It was clear to me that I was holding a treasure from the past in my hand. The shoe had to be treated with great care. I wrapped it in plastic and paper and put it into a plastic box.
Back home, I put the shoe in the freezer. The next day, I called county archaeologist Espen Finstad, who visited me and collected the find.”
The Early Date of the Shoe is revealed
In the spring of 2007, we radiocarbon-dated the hide shoe to be 3,300 years old, from the Early Bronze Age This early date came as a complete surprise. It was much older than other dated finds from our mountain ice. They had generally not been more than around 2,000 years old. Only later, after systematic surveys at Langfonne and the recovery and radiocarbon-dating of many more artefacts, did it become clear how the shoe fit into a broader chronological pattern at the site (read more here).
The discovery of the 3,300-year-old shoe marked the beginning of glacial archaeology in Innlandet County. The same autumn, many other finds emerged from the melting ice, but the shoe remained the most remarkable. More than anything else, it made us realise that something both exciting and disturbing was happening in our high mountains.
The September 28 2006 Triple Survey
Storfonne and Langfonne were not the only sites yielding finds in September 2006. Reports indicated that artefacts had also melted out from other known sites, such as Lendbreen, Åndfonne, and Søre Dalfonn. Additionally, mountain hikers discovered arrows at previously unknown sites in the Jotunheimen mountains. We urgently needed to take action.
Archaeologists from the county council and the archaeological museum in Oslo teamed up with local helpers. On September 28, three separate survey teams were dispatched to Langfonne, Søre Dalfonn and Lendbreen/Åndfonne. The date is significant, as it marks the beginning of systematic archaeological fieldwork at the ice — work that continues to this day. Instead of relying only on reports from mountain hikers, we set out on a mission to locate and investigate the archaeological ice sites in a more organised manner.
At the time, we had no idea of the scale of the challenge ahead. In hindsight, this was probably fortunate. Thankfully, we continued to receive valuable help from the local community.
Langfonne Ice Patch
Eleven days after Reidar discovered the shoe, the survey team arrived at Langfonne ice patch. Reidar, along with his friend Jan Stokstad, also joined the team. What followed was an extraordinary series of discoveries: nine arrows, two arrowheads, a flag for a scaring stick and two pieces of post-medieval textile. We had never seen anything like it and would not witness such an amount of arrow finds from a single site again until the Secrets of the Ice team returned to Langfonne for a large systematic survey in 2014.
Later radiocarbon dates of the finds from the 2006 Langfonne survey revealed that Stone Age artefacts had begun to emerge that year. We dated one of the arrows to the Late Neolithic, around 4,000 years ago. Three arrows were from the Bronze Age, two from the Early Iron Age and three from the Late Iron Age and Early Medieval Period.
Søre Dalfonn Ice Patch
Mountain hikers reported the first finds from the Søre Dalfonn ice patch in 1947-48, and again in 1980 and 2002.
Starting in late August 2006, hikers reported finds from Søre Dalfonn and the neighbouring Nordre Dalfonn. Most finds came from Søre Dalfonn: three arrows, one arrowhead, parts of shoes, a horseshoe, scaring sticks and other artefacts. Generally, the finds appeared to date from the Iron Age and the Medieval Period.
The visit by archaeologists and local helpers to Søre Dalfonn on September 28 did not result in additional discoveries. This was likely because Søre Dalfonn is quite small, and many local mountain hikers had already visited the site in the preceding weeks, collecting the finds and handing them in to the local museum. By the time of the archaeological survey, the Søre Dalfonn ice patch had been emptied of melted-out artefacts.
Lendbreen and Åndfonne Ice Patches
In 1973 and 1974, mountain hikers reported the earliest finds from Lendbreen, including an exceptionally well-preserved Viking Age spear that Per Dagsgard discovered. Around 1980, Dagsgard made the first finds at Åndfonne, a collection of scaring stick flags. In 2006, before the September 28th survey, local mountain hikers reported new finds from both Lendbreen and Åndfonne. They recovered and reported an iron scythe and three scaring sticks from Lendbreen, while they reported scaring sticks from Åndfonne.
The September 28th survey team, which included Per Dagsgard, focused on Lendbreen first. They discovered several artefacts there, including a horseshoe and an arrow. Another find was a small, hook-shaped wooden object, which was a mystery at the time. We now know it is linked to the traffic of packhorses passing through the area. The actual pass at the top of the ice patch only melted out five years later, so we had no knowledge of the pass in 2006.
The team then moved on to Åndfonne, where they immediately noticed large numbers of scaring sticks. They collected one as a sample, and this was later radiocarbon-dated to be around 1,500 years old.
The three teams meet
After the three survey teams had completed their work on September 28, they gathered the same evening in Otta, a small town at the junction of the Gudbrandsdalen and Ottadalen valleys. From the discussions that night, it became clear that something remarkable and puzzling was happening in the high mountains. Finds were emerging from the ice in numerous places. Why were so many artefacts melting out?
Storfonne Ice Patch
Let us explore some of the other ice patches where finds appeared in 2006. We start by returning to Storfonne. In addition to the scaring sticks found by Reidar, he also found the mid-section of an arrowshaft at Storfonne that year. Two other mountain hikers found and reported one arrow each here in 2006. One of these arrows was broken in six pieces. It was later dated to the earliest Iron Age, 2,200-2,300 years old. The other arrow was complete and had a preserved arrowhead which placed it in the Early Medieval Period. This was later confirmed through a radiocarbon-date of the wooden arrow shaft.
Gråvåhøe Canyon Ice Patch
A third ice site appeared at Kvitingskjølen, the mountain range where both Storfonne and Langfonne lie. This site is located in a canyon at 1,600 metres, below the Gråvåhøe mountain. A local mountain hiker found a wooden spade here. We radiocarbon-dated to around AD 300-500.
In the years to come, we discovered more ice sites in the Kvitingskjølen mountain range. The Handklefonne ice patch, close to Langfonne and Storfonne, yielded numerous finds in 2011 and the following years, while Reidar discovered a single arrow from a small ice patch further north in the range in 2023.
Lauvhøe Ice Patch
Aud Marstein, Reidar’s wife, found the first artefact from an ice patch below Mount Lauvhøe, west of Kvitingskjølen, during the big melt in 2006. This was a bolt for a crossbow, found in front of the lower edge of the ice patch. It is probably around 500 years old.
There would be a few more finds from the ice patch at Lauvhøe in the years to come. We surveyed the site systematically in 2017.
Nordre Dalfonn Ice Patch
In mid-September, local mountain hikers reported three finds from Nordre Dalfonn ice patch, two km northwest of Søre Dalfonn ice patch. The most remarkable find was a piece of textile, which the textile expert at the archaeological museum estimated to be medieval of origin. This was the first find of textile from an ice patch in Innlandet. There would be many more to come. The other two finds from Nordre Dalfonn were remains of scaring sticks.
Hattremsådalen Snow Patch
A mountain hiker reported finds from a small snow patch at Hattremsådalen, 2 km east of Søre Dalfonn. The snow patch sits in a cul-de-sac at the southern end of a canyon at 1,340 meters, making it the lowest glacial archaeological site in Innlandet County by far. The Hattremsådalen patch does not have an ice core, hence the use of the term snow patch for this site.
The hiker collected finds at Hattremsådalen on two occasions in October 2006. When he discovered the site, he brought down an iron arrowhead, four scaring sticks, and five flags. Later in October, he removed an additional fourteen scaring sticks and a thicker stick from the site and handed them in to the archaeologists..
Photos of the site, taken on October 4, 2006, show that the snow patch had nearly melted away, with only a little snow left at the bottom of the gully. There is clearly no ice core present in 2006, only snow.
We returned to the site in 2011 and collected even more finds.
Two Iron Age Arrows from the Southern Jotunheimen Mountains
Mountain hikers found two Early Iron Age arrows near melting ice in the southern Jotunheimen mountains in 2006, an area with no prior ice finds. The arrows both have the same type of iron arrowhead with a flat tang, which places them in the period AD 300-600.
2006: A Watershed Year for Glacial Archaeology in Innlandet
As we have seen, the autumn of 2006 not only led to new discoveries from four known ice sites (Lendbreen, Åndfonne, Storfonne and Søre Dalfonn), but mountain hikers also made finds on seven new ice patches, some close to known ice patch sites and some in new areas. We started to realise that the melt-out was not a freak of nature event but linked to climate change, and that we were standing at the start gate of a race to rescue the invaluable artefacts.
It became clear to us that we were facing several great challenges. We needed to gain an overview of where the sites were, how many sites there were and how to recover the finds from them. It was a daunting task. We had no funding and no idea of the magnitude of the problem. The road ahead looked tough and unpredictable.
It was the big melt in 2006 and the many archaeological finds emerging from the glacial ice then, which made us aware that something was going on in our high mountains in Innlandet County, Norway. However, Innlandet has a trickle of ice finds earlier than 2006, going all the way back to 1935. In this post, we take a closer look at them.
Before we examine the first finds, let us look at the recent climate history of the high mountains of Innlandet County for context. During the Little Ice Age (approximately AD 1450-1750), glaciers and ice patches in this region were significantly larger than they are today. The size of the ice around 1750 was at its largest since the early Holocene, 10,000 years ago. During the Little Ice Age, the ice either still embedded artefacts within it or buried them beneath thick ice layers. After the Little Ice Age ended, the glaciers stopped expanding and a slow retreat commenced.
In the early 1910s, a brief warming period led to the melt-out of the first artefact from the ice in Oppdal, just north of the Innlandet County border. This marked the first recorded archaeological find from ice worldwide, but it was just a blip. The size of the glacial ice was still large.
The 1930s and 1940s
The 1930s experienced a more prolonged warming period. This resulted in additional discoveries in Oppdal and the first finds emerging from the ice in Innlandet County. We can see a clear correlation between annual summer temperatures and the earliest reported finds from the ice here in Innlandet. In addition to summer temperatures, winter snow plays an important role for the ice melt. Unfortunately, there are no continuous data for winter precipitation from our area this early.
Smørrstabbreen Glacier 1935
The first ice find from Innlandet County was a large Viking Age arrowhead discovered in 1935. A mountain hiker found it in front av the Smørrstabbreen glacier in Jotunheimen, in an area newly exposed by melting. This find included no mention of an arrow shaft, which should not surprise us. Smørrstabbreen, a large, moving glacier, likely crushed the fragile shaft in the ice. The iron arrowhead remained preserved due to its greater internal strength.
Glaciers don’t link finds as clearly to annual temperatures as ice patches do. They react more sluggishly to changes in weather and climate. Also, moving glaciers transport finds downhill with the ice to the glacier mouth and dump them there. This is a process very different from that of ice patch finds (explained here). This movement is happening even during relatively cool summers.
Mount Storhøi 1937
Mountain hikers found two arrows and an iron arrowhead near Mount Storhøi in Lesja municipality during the very warm summer of 1937. Archaeologist Bjørn Hougen at Universitetets Oldsaksamling, the archaeological museum in Oslo, wrote about the finds at the time:
“One day in August 1937, hotel owner Michael Thøring from Lesja and his twelve-year-old son were in the mountains and ascended Mount Storhøi on the steep northern side where people rarely go. When they were about 20 minutes from the top, the boy spotted the cleft iron arrowhead (…). It lay on the bare rock near a stream and about 100 meters from the nearest snowdrift. Shortly after, the father found a long and surprisingly well-preserved arrow shaft with an accompanying bone tip lying loose beside the shaft (…). It also lay on bare rock near a stone. 20 meters further down, they found another arrow (…); this one was equipped with an iron tip and was stuck diagonally into the ground – a clear reminder of a missed shot from a distant past. The distance from these two arrows with preserved wooden shafts to the glacier was about 500 meters.”
Examining aerial photos of the area reveals two ice patches where the arrows could have been discovered.. One patch is located just 300 meters northeast of the Storhøi mountain top. However, this does not align well with a 20-minute walking distance to the summit. The other ice patch lies lower in the terrain, approximately 800 meters from the mountain top as the crow flies. This corresponds better with the 20-minute walking distance. Additionally, this area features a stream, and a small glacier located 300-400 meters further southeast, which also fits the description of the find spot. Mountain hikers found an 11th-12th century wooden spade in this area in 2018.
Radiocarbon dating conducted by the Secrets of the Ice program has revealed that the arrow with the bone arrowhead is approximately 2000 years old. The iron-tipped arrow, which has a foreshaft and a main shaft and preserved animal sinew, is dated to be around 1300 years old, based on the shape of the arrowhead. Additionally, the forked iron arrowhead, which was found without a wooden shaft, is identified as belonging to the Viking Age. So, while Hougen was wondering in his 1937 paper if all the finds where from the same hunt, we can now say with confidence that they were not. As is usually the case with ice patches, the finds are accumulations over time, not single event assemblages.
Horrungen 1939
Two years later, in 1939, an additional arrow was reported to the archaeological museum in Oslo. This was another summer with above average summer temperature, though not as warm as 1937. The arrow has an iron arrowhead and there are remains of preserved sinew where the arrowhead enters the wooden shaft. The back end with the nock is missing. The shape of the arrowhead tells us that the arrow is around 1300 years old.
The museum catalogue states that:
“Found on Lamshorongen (c. 1900 m.a.s.l.) in the mountains between Skjåk and Lesja. The arrow lay c. 300 m from the trigonometric point of Store Horongen, by a small lake, which would probably not be visible except when there is a snow-free summer. By the lake, there is also a small glacier, and the arrow lay by the edge of the glacier, by the skeleton of a reindeer.”
“Lamshorongen” is a misspelling in the museums catalogue for Lomshorongen. This is an older name for Mount Horrungen (1,834 m.a.s.l.), located on the border between Skjåk and Lom municipalities. We have a copy of the original letters from the finder. It includes a hand-drawn a map of the find spot.
The finder Egil Mølmen was in the area to conduct land measurements. With his professional background, we can rely on the information in his map.
Our survey of the find spot in 2010 did not yield any further artefact finds near the ice patch with the 1939 arrow find.
Mount Galdhøe 1947
After World War II, mountain hikers reported new ice finds in 1947 and 1948. The summer of 1947 set a temperature record that has not been beaten since, even with the current warming.
In 1947, a mountain hiker discovered a 1,300-year-old arrow with a preserved shaft and iron arrowhead at the edge of the ice at Mount Galdhøe (2,283 m.a.s.l.). He also found an isolated iron arrowhead 40 to 50 meters away from this location.
The description of the find spot for the artifacts is brief, leaving several possible locations. Mount Galdhøe is the highest and southernmost point on a long ridge over 2,200 meters in elevation, extending 3 kilometers to the north. There is an ice patch just northeast of Mount Galdhøe, which is a possible find spot. Below Galdhøe lies the large Styggebreen glacier, which might not seem a probable find spot due to ice movement. However, mountain hikers found a piece of textile, probably from the Iron Age or medieval period, 125 meters out on the ice here in 2014. This suggests that non-moving ice is present here, although the wind could have blown the textile there more recently.
There are at least three additional potential find spots in the area: the upper edge of the Vesljuvbrean glacier and an unnamed ice patch just north of this glacier. It might even include the Juvfonne site north of the lake. Overall, the most likely candidate for the find spot remains the ice patch just below Mount Galdhøe.
Søre Dalfonn 1947-48
At the same time as a mountain hiker discovered the Galdhøe relics, another hiker found two additional arrows further north at the Søre Dalfonn ice patch in Lesja municipality. Søre Dalfonn is a canyon ice patch, situated in a long, narrow gully extending from north to south. The northern, lower section was once larger and thicker, resembling a more typical ice patch, but it melted away in the 2010s. This ice patch is located at a relatively low altitude of approximately 1600 meters above sea level. The canyon-like topography allows for the retention of permanent ice at this low elevation.
A mountain hiker made the first significant find at Søre Dalfonn in 1947 when he discovered a crossbow bolt in the southernmost part of the gully, just 2-3 meters from the ice edge. This artefact features an iron arrowhead with a socket and a thick, short shaft, measuring 51 cm in total length.
In 1948, the hiker discovered another arrow on the site. This arrow is characteristic of those used between 300-600 AD, featuring an iron arrowhead with a flat tang. Although broken into three parts with the back end missing, the arrow still retains some of the original pitch used to fasten the arrowhead. The hiker found it near a snow patch that extended at a right angle from the main ice patch in the canyon.
An Isolated Ice Find from 1959
After the 1948 Søre Dalfonn find, mountain hikers reported only one additional find from the Innlandet ice until 1972. An examination of temperatures during the 1950s to the 1990s reveals that there were occasional warm summers but no prolonged warming periods.
In 1959, local schoolteacher Gregor Kummen send a letter to the archaeological museum in Oslo to report an archaeological find. He had discovered an archaeological find at the edge of the Sulbreen glacier. The letter included a drawing of a 93 cm long stick with a thread attached to the top. We can now easily recognise the drawn object as a scaring stick. The letter is dated September 2 1959, that is during the best period discovering finds near the ice. This suggests that the find was made the same year the letter was written.
The 1970s and 1980
Moldurhøe 1972
High school student Per Dagsgard discovered what from his description was a scaring stick at Mount Moldurhøe on the Lomseggen mountain range in 1972 and reported the find to the archaeological museum in Oslo. An accompanying letter contains a hand-drawn map that shows that the find spot is the ice patch in the northern slope below Moldurhøe. Scaring sticks have since melted out in large numbers at this ice patch.
Scaring sticks were an unknown quantity in 1970s. The archaeological museum could not determine what someone had used it for or how old it was, so they returned it.
It was the reindeer researcher Øystein Mølmen, who solved the question of function of the sticks. He led a large project which mapped ancient monuments related to hunting in the Innlandet mountains in the 1970s. He found a depiction of similar objects in a 1741 book on Inuit reindeer hunting in Greenland. Mølmen quickly realized that people had used these objects both in Greenland and in Innlandet for the same purpose. They placed them in lines to guide the reindeer towards the hunters or towards pitfall traps. He radiocarbon-dated the scaring stick from Moldurhøe, and the result returned a date of c. 600-800 AD. The wooden stick had been used during Iron Age reindeer hunting!
Lendbreen 1973-74
Lendbreen ice patch, which was later to become our most famous site, appeared in the finds record for the first time in 1973. A Viking Age arrowhead was discovered there.
The report of the arrowhead found at Lendbreen sent young student Per Dagsgard on an artefact hunt at the ice patch in 1974. He made an incredible discovery – a complete Viking Age spear in front of the ice patch.
It is interesting to note that Dagsgard also reported other finds from Lendbreen (such as sled remains and scaring sticks) in his letters to the museum, to which he got no response. Maybe the archaeologists thought these objects were of a more recent date. If they had checked up on these finds, the glacial archaeology of Innlandet could have started 30 years earlier than it did.
Gravdalen 1974
In 1974, a mountain hiker made a remarkable and mysterious discovery in the Gravdalen Valley: a rare iron sword dating back to the early Pre-Roman Iron Age, around 400-300 BC. According to the museum catalogue, the hiker found the sword “in an area usually covered in snow and almost devoid of vegetation, on the lower slope of a small glacier.”
Due to the exceptional nature of the discovery, a museum archaeologist and the person who found the sword attempted to revisit the site soon after the discovery. However, bad weather thwarted their plans. In 2015, we contacted the finder again and arranged for a new visit, this time with our long-time local collaborator, Reidar Marstein. Unfortunately, the attempt was unsuccessful. Forty years had passed, the ice had receded, and the landscape had changed a lot.
In recent years, mountain hikers have found a few arrows in small ice patches in the same area. This indicates that people hunted reindeer there in prehistoric times. However, it’s puzzling why someone would bring a sword to a hunt—it doesn’t make sense. Local folklore claims that someone once found a helmet standing on a stone near the place where the hiker discovered the sword, which is even more intriguing. If it was indeed a helmet, it has since vanished without a trace. In similar cases, supposed “helmets” have often turned out to be shield bosses when properly investigated.
We can only speculate that a Pre-Roman warrior might have died in the area, leaving the sword and possibly other items behind, but for now, that remains mere conjecture.
Lendbreen 1970s and -80s
There were further finds reported from Lendbreen in the 1970s and 1980s. A 150 cm long wooden stick was collected and handed in to the museum in connection with a extensive program of mapping ancient hunting monuments connected to reindeer hunting. We do not know the exact year the stick was found, but the mapping took place from 1975 to 1978. Half of a possible bow made from hazel was also recovered from Lendbreen, as were scaring sticks.
In the 1980s, a Viking Age arrowhead was found at Lendbreen . The find circumstances were described as “ .. found on the surface, near the edge of the glacier”
Small fragments of a wooden spade (C53146) were found at Lendbreen in the early 1980s. We have radiocarbon-dated the spade to the Migration Period.
Åndfonne
Åndfonne ice patch, close to Lendbreen, appeared on the radar for the first time in the 1980s. Five wooden flags for scaring sticks were found in a bundle here.
Søre Dalfonn 1980
We have already heard about the first finds from the Søre Dalfonn ice patch in 1947-48. In 1980, a report came of another find from this ice patch: The front part of a ski. This ski would prove to be the first of several ski finds from the Innlandet ice.
The preserved length of the ski is 89 cm. Because the binding area is not preserved, we can infer that the ski was likely at least 2 meters long. There is a raised ridgeline along the top of the ski.
The 1990s until 2002
A mountain hiker found a wooden spade in the ice at Mount Moldurhøe in 1995, and Dagsgard reported it in his book on ancient monuments in the Lomseggen mountain range, published in 2000.
Around this time, hobby archaeologist Reidar Marstein from Lom started visiting the Storfonne ice patch in the Kvitingskjølen mountain range. He had a hunch that there could be archaeological finds here, like the ones previously reported from Oppdal, just north of the Innlandet county border. He didn’t give up, even after several years without making finds. However, the conditions with ‘large ice’ were working against him. Then global warming started to impress itself upon the Innlandet mountain ice.
2002-2003 – First Finds at Storfonne
The early 2000s marked the beginning of a marked and sustained retreat of ice in the high mountains. Especially 2002 stands out as a year with a very warm summer. This was also the year when Reidar’s efforts finally paid off. He found a scaring stick near the edge of the Storfonne Ice Patch and reported the find to the county archaeologists. The radiocarbon-date showed that it was 1300 years old, much the same date as the scaring stick Per Dagsgard had found at Moldurhøe in 1973. Little did we know at the time, that this was just the beginning of a new and dramatic wave of ice finds here in Innlandet.
Reidar returned to Storfonne in 2003 and found more scaring sticks. In 2004 and 2005, there were no further finds due to too much snow.
Summing up
There were quite a few finds from ice patches in Innlandet County prior to the big melt in 2006. Most of the pre-2006 finds were related to Iron Age and Viking Age reindeer hunting, such as arrows, arrowheads, and scaring sticks. Even with a limited number of finds, Lendbreen ice patch stood out as something different.
There were no systematic surveys for archaeological finds from the ice prior to 2006. Mountain hikers mainly made the finds coincidentally. The exceptions are the finds from Søre Dalfonn, Lendbreen and Storfonne. At Søre Dalfonn, local knowledge about the archaeological potential of the site following the 1947 find likely led to the additional finds. Dagsgard also knew about the presence of finds at Lendbreen before he discovered the Viking Age spear there. Reidar deliberately targeted Storfonne to look for archaeological finds.
Most finds are from years with warm summers, but not all. Since people made finds during summers with normal or even colder-than-normal temperatures, it seems reasonable to conclude that finds lay out in the open without being reported before the sustained melt and further ice retreat began in 2002. There was little public awareness of archaeological ice finds in Innlandet prior to 2006, and no systematic search for artefacts near the ice.
This was all about to change in 2006.
For a short overview of early finds outside Norway, check this post