Page:Prehistoric and Medieval Skis from Glaciers and Ice Patches in Norway.pdf/1

 JGA 3.1 (2016) 43–58 https://doi.org/10.1558/jga.33147

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Introduction

The melting of mountain ice due to climate change has led to the development of a new archaeological discipline—glacial archaeology (Andrews and MacKay 20142012 [sic]; Dixon et al. 2014; Reckin 2013). Oppland County Council and the Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo have cooperated in this field since 2006, with a permanent Glacier Archaeology Program ongoing in Oppland County since 2011. Well over 2000 artefacts have been recovered, making Oppland the most finds-rich region in glacial archaeology worldwide. The high number of artefacts from the ice in the county is probably in part caused by the short distance between the densely settled valleys and the high mountain ice.

In this paper, we present interesting new ski-historical evidence from the glacial ice in Oppland. Recently, the Lendbreen and Digervarden ice patches have released