Ice Mummies and the Viking Pass. How Mysteries Emerge from the Ice, Changing Perceptions of the World

In September 1991, two German tourists hiking in the mountains of the Val Senales valley near the Italian-Austrian border spotted a human body emerging from the melting ice. Initially, they thought it was a victim of a recent mountain accident and reported the find to the police.

However, a few days later it turned out that the body was much older. Radiocarbon analysis showed that the man died about 5300 years ago. He was named Ötzi, or the Iceman.

Ötzi lived even before the construction of the Egyptian pyramids, when most people engaged in agriculture and lived in small communities, and metal tools were only beginning to spread. Thanks to the exceptionally good preservation of the body, scientists were able to examine even the tattoos on his skin, determine what he ate before he died, and find the arrowhead that killed him. It remained in the man's right shoulder blade.

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Ice as a Historical Time Capsule

Due to climate change, snow and ice worldwide are melting faster and faster. According to a study published in 2025, from 2000 to 2023, glaciers outside the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets lost an average of about 270 billion tons of ice annually. The most intensive melting occurred in the last decade of this period.

The areas of exposed surface on perennial ice patches are also growing. Unlike glaciers, such ice patches are usually not massive enough to move downhill. Stationary ice particularly well preserves ancient artifacts.

Espen Finstad, head of the Norwegian archaeological program "Secrets of the Ice," notes that an especially large number of artifacts have begun appearing from under the ice in the last 20 years. According to him, the ice was a unique historical freezer that is now ceasing to function. Many items are emerging almost in the same condition as they were thousands of years ago.

What the Iceman Revealed About the Past

Archaeological finds often come from ancient burials, but Ötzi is particularly important for scientists because he allows us to see not only rituals and customs but also the daily life of an ordinary person.

Clothing, weapons, and tools were preserved with him. Archaeologist Andreas Putzer from the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, Italy, where Ötzi's body is now kept, notes that this provided an opportunity to gain a detailed understanding of how people dressed in that period for the first time.

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The origin of his copper axe also revealed connections between ancient communities. The axe was made from copper from Tuscany — a region in central Italy, hundreds of kilometers away from the find site. This indicates that people were already trading and moving goods over significant distances back then.

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The good preservation of the body also allowed for important biological discoveries. Genetic studies revealed the bacterium Helicobacter pylori in Ötzi, which can cause stomach ulcers. After his genome was sequenced in 2012, scientists concluded that he likely had brown eyes, blood type O, and lactose intolerance. He also suffered from arthritis-related pain and had an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases.

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A 2023 study further refined understandings of his appearance. According to new data, Ötzi's skin may have been darker than previously thought, and genetic features indicate a predisposition to male pattern baldness. The study of the Iceman continues.

Ancient Forest in the Rocky Mountains

Thousands of kilometers from where Ötzi was found, melting ice has revealed other traces of the past. In the Rocky Mountains of the USA, researchers found a forest of whitebark pines, whose age, according to radiocarbon dating, exceeds 5000 years.

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Archaeologist Craig Lee from the University of Montana said that the trees were so well preserved that their wood remained yellow and still smelled strongly of pine. Some trunks lay horizontally next to the stumps from which they had broken off.

The trees had been frozen for millennia, so their wood appears almost fresh. It is particularly interesting that such trees no longer exist in this area today. Their growth at such an altitude indicates that the climate there was much warmer in the past than it is now.

Viking Pass and Objects from Daily Life

Another significant discovery was made in the mountains of Norway, where melting ice revealed an ancient mountain pass used by Vikings. Archaeologist Julian Post-Melbye from the Museum of Cultural History at the University of Oslo calls it a unique ancient highway: this route allowed for quick and relatively easy passage through the mountains.

According to Espen Finstad, many objects were found on the pass, some of which are at least 2000 years old. Some of the finds are related to transport: these include horse gear, ski fragments, horseshoes, horse bones, and even horse manure. All of this indicates that pack horses were used for travel along the pass.

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Horseshoes, bones, and manure are indicators that pack horses were once used on the pass

However, researchers found not only objects related to travel. Among the artifacts were clothing, including mittens and shoes, children's toys, containers with beeswax for making candles, and weapons. Some items were preserved almost as well as Ötzi's body.

Post-Melbye jokingly calls these finds "quality prehistoric trash". But their significance is much greater than their mere unusualness. Just 20 years ago, the history of Norway's high mountains might have primarily been a history of mountain expeditions. Now, archaeologists can tell about a wide range of people who lived and worked in these areas: artisans, farmers, children, and entire families.

The Viking Pass has been explored since 2011, when its discovery attracted the attention of archaeologists. The work of the "Secrets of the Ice" team allows for the gradual reconstruction of the history of this route and the people who used it.

Less and Less Time to Save Finds

However, melting ice not only opens up new opportunities for archaeology but also creates a serious problem. After appearing on the surface, ancient objects can disappear very quickly.

Finstad explains that meltwater can carry an artifact away within a single day. Clothing, once dry, can become so light that it gets carried away by the wind. Therefore, researchers have to work quickly to find and preserve valuable items.

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Post-Melbye warns that in the future, there might no longer be glaciers and ice patches in the mountains where artifacts are currently found. According to him, those who work in these areas annually are particularly aware that these natural conditions could disappear within the lifetime of the current generation.

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Craig Lee emphasizes that researchers have a duty to future generations to study and preserve what is being revealed from under the ice. Finstad also believes that very little time may remain: in 20 years, it will be too late for some finds.

According to him, the task of archaeologists is to manage to find these evidences of the past and preserve them, because otherwise they could disappear forever.

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