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Alps Artifacts Offer Clues to Climate Change

Posted Sep 6, 08 10:48 AM CDT in World,  Arts & Living 

(Newser) – A melting glacier in the Swiss Alps has revealed hundreds of ancient artifacts, providing valuable information about both history and climate change through the ages, AFP reports. The area was walkable only during warm periods when the glacier receded. “The site itself is the most important find because we have this correlation between climate change and archaeological objects,” says a researcher.

The finds on the 9,000-foot-high Schnidejoch pass began in 2003 with hikers’ discovery of an ancient quiver for arrows. Since then, 300 objects have been found dating as far back as 4000 BC, including pieces of leather that are the oldest of their kind ever discovered. Climate change could lead to similar glacial melting, and more archaeological finds, on mountain ranges around the world.

Source AFP

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Hikers admire the Bernese alps in Switzerland, Sunday, Jan. 20, 2008.   (AP Photo/Alessandro della Valle)
A hiker walks near the Silvretta glacier in the Swiss Alps near the town of Klosters, Switzerland in this Sept. 16, 2007, file photo.   (AP Photo/Arno Balzarini)
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We know now that the discoveries on Schnidejoch are the oldest of this kind ever made in the Alps. - Archaeologist Albert Hafner

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climate change • environment • archaeology • Switzerland • glacier • Alps • artifacts


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