Archaeologists find 1,500-year-old arrow perfectly preserved inside glacier

By Amy Reast via SWNS

Archaeologists found a perfectly preserved 1,500-year-old arrow inside a glacier.

A team of seven people from a glacier archaeology program in Norway discovered the arrow, dated to 300-600 AD, in the Jotunheimen Mountains on August 17.

It was found during a survey of the reindeer hunting site.

Lars Pilø, who co-directs the glacier archaeology program at the Department of Cultural Heritage, said: "The arrows melting out of the ice are a very important new source material to archaeology.

Archaeologists found a perfectly preserved 1,500 year old arrow inside a glacier. (secretsoftheice.com via SWNS)

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"Due to their preservation, we can learn we at lot more about the past, such as how advances their bow-and-arrow technology really was.

"The age of the arrow can be assessed by the shape of the arrowhead and the arrow shaft, which both point to AD 300-600.

"The arrow is really well preserved, also compared to other arrows from the ice.

"The degree of preservation is linked to time of exposure, the micro-environment where it was found, and the pressure of snow and ice has impacted where the arrow lay."

The Glacier Archaeology program is co-directed by archaeologists Lars and Espen Finstad at the Department of Cultural Heritage, at Innlandet County Council.

They have been doing glacial archaeology inn Innlandet County since the first big melt in 2006 - an unusually warm summer in the area.

Rising temperatures have led to increased melting of mountain ice in Innlandet.