i ve seen articles on this type of stuff passing through various forums for several years i ve always found archaeology interesting for no particular reason here is a recent article from u s news that i actually still have in the dank recesses of my virtual repository james rogers jamesr URL URL defrosting the past ancient human and animal remains are melting out of glaciers a bounty of a warming world by alex markels as he hiked near colorado s continental divide in the summer of NUMBER ed knapp noticed a strange shape jutting from a melting ice field at NUMBER NUMBER feet it looked like a bison skull the building contractor and amateur archaeologist recalls i thought that s strange bison don t live this high up knapp brought the skull to the denver museum of nature and science where scientists last month announced that it was indeed from a bison one that died about NUMBER years ago this was an extraordinary discovery says russ graham the museum s chief curator adding that it could alter notions of the mountain environment centuries ago there s probably a lot more like it yet to be found and not just bison colorado isn t the only place where glaciers and snowfields are melting decades of unusual warmth in regions from peru to alaska a trend some think is linked to emissions from cars and industry have shrunk or thawed many of the world s NUMBER NUMBER glaciers as the ice recedes a treasure trove of human and animal artifacts is emerging extraordinarily well preserved after centuries in the deep freeze the fabrics wood bone and dna rich tissue found on the mucky fringes of the ice are revising scientists understanding of our predecessors health habits and technology and the prey they pursued it s mind boggling how many different fields are being advanced through studying these remains says johan reinhard a high altitude archaeologist and explorer in residence at the national geographic society rare spectacular finds like the frozen mummies he discovered in the andes of peru in the NUMBERs and the legendary NUMBER NUMBER year old ice man found at the edge of a receding glacier in the alps in NUMBER have offered time capsules of cultural and biological information now as the ice continues to retreat it is yielding not just occasional treasures but long records of humans and animals in the high mountains vanishing act the trick is finding such specimens before mother nature and looters take them first once uncovered frozen remains can deteriorate within hours or be gnawed by animals moreover they re often so well preserved when they emerge that people who come upon them don t even realize they re ancient that was the case when three men hunting sheep near a high glacier in british columbia canada three years ago saw what they thought was a dead animal it looked a little like sealskin buried in the ice recalls warren ward a teacher from nearby nelson but when i looked closer i could see leather fringe from a coat and finger bones figuring they had found the remains of another hunter or perhaps a fur trapper the men stowed a flint knife and other artifacts in a zip loc bag and delivered them to local officials archaeologists later exhumed the fallen hunter s body along with a woven hat fur clothing and what seemed to be a medicine bag carbon dating revealed that the hunter lived about NUMBER years ago dubbed kwaday dan ts inchi or long ago person found by people of the champagne and aishihik first nations who may be his direct descendants he is perhaps the best preserved human from the period ever found in north america other findings from melting ice in the neighboring yukon region could explain what that long ago person was doing in the mountains in the first place before this there was no archaeological record of people living here says greg hare a yukon government archaeologist now we see that this area was very much part of people s seasonal activities like ward s discovery the search began by chance when kristin benedek caught a whiff of what smelled like a barnyard as she and her husband gerry kuzyk hunted sheep at NUMBER NUMBER feet in the mountains of the south yukon they followed the scent to a melting patch of ice covered in caribou dung it was really odd because i knew there hadn t been caribou in the area for at least NUMBER years recalls kuzyk then a wildlife biologist with the yukon government caribou cake returning a week later he found what looked like a pencil with string wrapped around it it turned out to be a NUMBER NUMBER year old atlatl or spear thrower further investigation of the ice patch and scores of others around the region revealed icy layer cakes filled with caribou remains and human detritus chronicling NUMBER NUMBER years of changing hunting practices scientists now believe ancient caribou and other animals flocked to the ice each summer to cool down and escape swarming mosquitoes and flies hunters followed the game they returned for centuries and discarded some equipment in the ice we ve got people hunting with throwing darts up until NUMBER NUMBER years ago says hare who now oversees the research project then we see the first appearance of the bow and arrow about NUMBER NUMBER years ago and by NUMBER NUMBER years ago there s no more throwing darts now scientists are trying to make the search less a matter of luck they are developing sophisticated computer models that combine data on where glaciers are melting fastest and where humans and animals are known to have migrated to pinpoint the best places to search in alaska s wrangell and st elias mountain ranges the united states most glaciated terrain and in the andes johan reinhard thinks the fast thawing european alps could also deliver more findings perhaps as exquisite as the ice man global warming is providing us high altitude archaeologists with some fantastic opportunities right now we re probably about the only ones happy about it 