
Melting ice reveals a Viking-era pass in Norway’s mountains - LinuxBender
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/melting-ice-reveals-a-lost-viking-era-pass-in-norways-mountains/
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pi-rat
They're finding tons of old stuff here in Norway these days, even random
people hiking in the mountain stumble over 1250 year old viking swords[1],
spears, arrows. Skis from the year 700 AD.. etc..

Lots of it gets documented by the Secrets of the Ice project[2].

[1]:
[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/1b/25/3f/1b253f39890eaac465f6...](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/1b/25/3f/1b253f39890eaac465f60b4d3b923aaf.jpg)
[2]: [https://secretsoftheice.com](https://secretsoftheice.com)

~~~
GuiA
Are more people going to more remote locations, I wonder? Or are people
reporting their findings more now because of the internet?

~~~
pi-rat
This article from national geographics[1] explains it well I think. Objects
were lost in the snow by travellers crossing the mountains up to 2000 years
ago, over time they got covered in stationary ice (glaciers move and crush
items).

Now these stationary ice pockets (and glaciers) are slowly melting, leaving
well preserved lost items from the old days in its place.

[1]: [https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/2020/04/lost-
viki...](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/2020/04/lost-viking-
highway-revealed-melting-ice/)

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glitcher
Same story on National Geographic with a couple more photos of the area:

[https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/2020/04/lost-
viki...](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/2020/04/lost-viking-
highway-revealed-melting-ice/)

~~~
Thrymr
And even more in the primary source, open access journal article:
[https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2020.2](https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2020.2)
(linked from the National Geographic article but not the Scientific American
one that I could find).

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tomohawk
It was warmer at that time than now.

[https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-
sci...](https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-
sciences/medieval-warm-period)

The medieval warm period coincides with the viking expansion and contraction.

Edit: see response, below

~~~
chimprich
I don't think much of that article. It appears to be from a climate heating-
denialist book and has a number of errors.

If you look at the Wikipedia page on the subject:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_Warm_Period](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_Warm_Period)
...it shows that the medieval warm period was not a global phenomenon.

It also contains comical unchecked claims such as "During the Medieval Warm
Period, wine grapes were grown as far north as England, where growing grapes
is now not feasible". This is blatantly false, as there is a wine industry in
England. With summers getting increasingly warm, recent decades have even seen
the development of Welsh wines.

Edit: actually it seems to be a selection of articles from different sources,
but prominence is given to "Evidence-Based Climate Science", an obscure book,
for some reason.

~~~
tomohawk
The medieval warm period is basic history.

I just picked a random site that talked about it.

As for the wine in England:

[https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/10/14/dining/drinks...](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/10/14/dining/drinks/climate-
change-wine.html)

> Places, like England, that were historically unsuited for producing fine
> wine have been given the opportunity to join the global wine world,
> transforming local economies in the process.

~~~
mattkrause
As many college students can attest, there's plenty of wine which is not "fine
wine".

~~~
olivermarks
never drink french red wine sold in bottled water style containers in France
unless you have a very robust digestive system. I spent a couple of days in a
fetal position after a bender on that stuff...

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evandev
A lot more information about the search and find along with pictures at:
[https://secretsoftheice.com/news/2020/04/16/mountain-
pass/](https://secretsoftheice.com/news/2020/04/16/mountain-pass/)

~~~
rnabel
That was some of the best accessible scientific writing I recently came across
- thanks for sharing! What an exciting time to work in that field.

Their article on the Ötzi discovery [0] is also well worth a read.

[0]
[https://secretsoftheice.com/news/2018/07/04/otzi/](https://secretsoftheice.com/news/2018/07/04/otzi/)

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irrational
I'm looking forward to seeing what Greenland and Antarctica look like without
ice.

~~~
1bc29b36f623ba8
With luck, we'll find more Viking artifacts:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Greenland#Norse_set...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Greenland#Norse_settlement)

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yters
I thought now it is the warmest it has ever been since human civilization
began.

~~~
paypalcust83
MWP was about +1 C more, while the PETM was about +15 C more than global
average temperature as of now.

~~~
pdonis
The PETM was a long time before human civilization began.

~~~
greglindahl
And the MWP did not cause the entire Earth to warm, so, here we have yet
another green username sounding authoritative but being a bit wrong.

------
HenryKissinger
[God of War intensifies]

