Page:Prehistoric and Medieval Skis from Glaciers and Ice Patches in Norway.pdf/15

Prehistoric and Medieval Skis from Glaciers and Ice Patches in Norway high-alpine landscape, i. e. during their actual use. They were likely used during the wintertime and thus provide evidence of early human use of a high-alpine landscape under what could be harsh conditions.

While the skis from Digervarden, Dalfonn and Vossaskavlen fit quite well into our current knowledge of ski development, the Lendbreen ski or snowshoe provides a glimpse of an unknown tradition of making implements for deep snow transport. The on-going melting of high mountain ice is likely to release further ski-historical evidence in the coming years.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Ministry of Climate and Environment, The Directorate of Cultural Heritage, Oppland County Council and the Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo for funding the Glacier Archaeology Program in Oppland. We would also like to thank ski-maker Thomas Aslaksby for fruitful discussions on the Vossaskavlen skis, Kjell Bengtsen for the reconstruction of the Digervarden ski and Dag Inge Bakke for trying out the Digervarden reconstructions. Thanks to James Barrett for valuable comments on an earlier draft of this paper. The manuscript benefited from comments from two anonymous reviewers.

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