Scientists discover 1,300-year-old wooden ski to complete oldest set in history

By Fiona Jackson via SWNS

Archaeologists have found a 1,300-year-old wooden ski which was trapped under the ice and reunited it with its other half to complete the oldest set in history.

The first pre-Viking wooden ski was made by a group of glacial archaeologists at Digervarden Ice Patch in Norway in 2014.

They waited patiently for the ice to melt enough to claim the second one, which they extracted earlier this month.

They are believed to the oldest and best-preserved prehistoric pair of skis in the world.

The crew believe the skier who used them could have been hunting reindeer or traveling across high mountain trails.

The owner's demise could have come with an avalanche, or they left them in the snow intentionally to mark out a spot or because they became damaged.

"My colleagues were awestruck," Lars Pilø, co-director of the Secrets Of The Ice program.

"I have been hoping and praying for this find to come out of the ice for the last seven years. I couldn't be more happy."

Archaeologist Runar Hole and his tour companion Bjørn Hessen made a field check on September 20 and located the ski just 15 feet from where the first was found.

It was still firmly rooted in the ice and the two did not have the required equipment to safely remove it, so they returned six days later with a larger team and more kit.

By the time they did that, a fresh new layer of snow masked the ski's location.

Using the recorded GPS positions and photo from the previous visit they located the artifact, but it was still deeply lodged in the ice which they had to carefully pick away with an ax.

Once the whole length of the ski was visible, the ice below it was melted by pouring lukewarm water over it which had been heated on their gas cookers.

To their joy, the group from the 'Secrets Of The Ice' program found the second ski to be in even better condition than the first, and found they had identical binding confirming they were a pair.

At 187cm long and 17cm wide, the second ski is 17cm longer and 2cm wider than the first, better preserved because of it was held deeper in the ice.

It has three twisted birch bindings, a leather strap and a wooden plug that go through the hole in the foothold to help drag them while not in use.

It even has signs of repairs, so it was clearly well-used by the skier.

As they were handmade, the second ski is not identical to the first found in 2014 and have differences in the carvings.

They are the second and third skis of their kind to be found in the world, the first being a slightly older version found in Mänttä in Finland in 1991.

The Secrets of the Ice program is run as a cooperation between Innlandet County Council and the Museum of Cultural History at the University of Oslo.