The Schnidejoch finds
A melting ice patch on a 2,756 m pass gave up objects spanning 6,000 years, including a Neolithic bow.
Date2003-09-01
Altitude2,756 m
Oldest use≈ 4800 BCE
Bow length162 cm
In the hot summer of 2003, hikers found a yew-wood bow case at the Schnidejoch, a pass at 2,756 m between the Bernese Oberland and the Rhône valley. Archaeologists recovered finds from the melting ice until 2010.
The objects date from the Neolithic, the Bronze and Iron Ages, Roman times and the Middle Ages. More than 70 radiocarbon dates show the pass was in use from at least 4800–4500 BCE. A 162 cm yew bow dates to about 2900–2700 BCE.
Ice that preserved organic material for millennia is now releasing it. When the ice goes, what it kept is lost unless someone is there to find it.
Sources
Sources
- Hafner, A. (2012). Archaeological discoveries on Schnidejoch and at other ice sites in the European Alps. Arctic 65. journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/67240