Melting ice in Norway has revealed a 1,500-year-old reindeer hunting facility, preserved beneath centuries of snow and ice. Archaeologists from the University Museum of Bergen and Vestland County uncovered wooden mass-capture fences, marked antlers, iron spearheads, arrow shafts, wooden spears, a crafted antler brooch, and a mysterious decorated pine oar at the site on the mountain plateau of Aurlandsfjellet. The trap, composed of hundreds of tree branches stacked into two fences, was likely used around the middle of the 6th century at the start of a cold period, when year-round snow and ice made it unusable yet ideal for preservation.
This discovery is significant because it is the first time a mass-capture facility made of wood has been revealed from ice in Norway, and it is probably unique in a European context. The findings contribute to a growing body of artifacts exposed by global warming and melting ice sheets, enabling unprecedented ice archaeology. The Glacier Archaeology Program, known as "Secrets of the Ice," has previously uncovered a trade route, skis, a Viking sword, and a 3,000-year-old arrow in recent years, highlighting how climate change is both revealing and threatening ancient cultural heritage.