Scientists continue to find many incredible things hiding in ice. Some of the things you will find here are more bizarre than the rest. In fact, a handful of these will truly blow you away! Although it is not that uncommon to find woolly creatures buried and preserved in the cold, there is no explanation for the others. Get ready to be mystified and enthralled by what scientists have uncovered in the icy depths of the North and South Poles. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.
An Icy Lighthouse
There are times when it gets so cold that it freezes an entire architectural structure, apparently. This is not all that unusual in Michigan if you can believe it. The lighthouse in question has succumbed to the cold – that seems like an understatement! You can clearly see how the spiral staircase has frozen over, and we don’t blame you for assuming it is unmanned.
An Icy Lighthouse
Baby Mammoth Brains
When it comes to the weirder scientific finds in ice, it is pretty hard to beat woolly mammoth’s brains. If you are wondering if it is edible, we do not recommend trying it out. The remains were discovered in a kind of permafrost along the coast of the Laptev Sea. Apparently, it is one of the few preserved mammoths that remains with the brain intact to ever be discovered. It dates back to 39,000 years ago! Whoa. However, the saddest part about this was that it was a baby mammoth. Scientists believe it was only six to nine years old when it died.
Baby Mammoth Brains
Freezing Fox Found
Not all the animals they find hiding in ice date back to thousands of years ago. After all, even the more common animals can freeze in the right weather conditions! That was the fate of this fox. No matter how cute one is, the ice-cold Arctic waters can still come for you and freeze you to death. This critter was discovered by a hunter in some German lake. Apparently, he also came across a wild deer and boar before finding the fox! Rumor has it that the preserved fox is now on display at a hotel in Germany.
Freezing Fox Found
Frozen But Alive
There are times when the things they find are not even dead! Apparently, these incredible discoveries are the results of normal environment changes instead of frozen mishaps. For example, alligators can survive in freezing circumstances for a certain amount of time! They can thank their physiology for letting their internal organs survive in frozen waters. Don’t you wish we can also hibernate temporarily?
Frozen But Alive
Is It A Plane?
It is also not uncommon to find crashed technology in ice. Although not at all ancient, we are sure the excavators were surprised to find this military plane down there. In 1952, it was bound for Anchorage, Alaska but crashed into a glacier instead! It reportedly caused the deaths of 11 crew members and 41 passengers overall. The unsafe conditions made it impossible for rescuers and police officers to retrieve the wreck. Only the melting of the glacier allowed it to resurface more than five decades later.
Is It A Plane?
Fish Eats Fish
This is yet another fascinating find! This fish was frozen while it was in the middle of eating a different fish. The water probably got cold too quickly for the animals to freeze in such a manner. An ice fisherman had been the one to discover it. Apparently, the ice can reveal some secrets of the animal kingdom as well!
Fish Eats Fish
Dive In And Die
Who can blame the birds for trying to find some food? Sadly, a sharp dive underneath the water would mean the end for these animals. They could never recover from the deep freeze they found themselves in. Only seconds after going under, they froze completely! The kingfisher tends to suffer this tragic fate more than other birds. This discovery was found in northern Bavaria.
Dive In And Die
Puppies In Ice
Scientists also stumble into things that hit close to home. They found an ice age pup this time! It might not have been as well-preserved as the others on this list, but it was enough for them to find out that it was 12,460 years old. It was an important find because it reshaped the idea of ancient canine phylogeny. They were actually looking for mammoth tusks when they found this good dog!
Puppies In Ice
Amazing Arrowhead
When it comes to icy discoveries, weapons are yet another common find. Take this arrowhead for example. The best thing about it is that it suggests the existence of metallurgy during ancient times. This is a great way to situate the modernity of any society! Apparently, it was made in the style of our present-day fishhooks! This would translate that they knew how to hunt efficiently. How cool is that?
Amazing Arrowhead
Viking Gear
Of course, there was no way we weren’t going to talk about Vikings! In Juvfonna, scientists discovered Viking gear among glaciers. Mostly made of reindeer, they discovered bows, arrows, leather shoe parts, and sticks. All the equipment is believed to date from 3,400 years ago. Reindeer traps were also present. If you don’t know what they are, they’re sticks bound together to make noise upon contact!
Viking Gear
Bloody Waters
It seems like mysterious things keep happening in Antarctica. Another weird phenomenon is this red stream appropriately called the Blood Falls glacier. It might look like blood, but it is only rich in iron! This is the same reason why Mars is a red planet. Although it is uncertain where all the iron comes from, it certainly makes for an unbelievable sight. Can you imagine running into this without any idea what is going on? Spooky!
Bloody Waters
How Forests Survive
As glaciers move, they basically crush whatever comes their way. However, they also pick up debris and rocks as they move. Scientists have called the sediment moraine. It can cushion anything that would have been crushed otherwise. This is what it is like for some old forests. The trees do not get uprooted nor the forest destroyed as the moraine lets the non-abrasive material cushion the glacier.
How Forests Survive
Ice As A Preservative
How come ice can preserve these things so well? Apparently, it is because the weather conditions ward off bacteria and decomposers from functioning as usual. In the Arctic, the lack of oxygen also helps the bacterial decomposers stop functioning. If they do operate at all, it will be at a much slower rate than usual. Scientists get to examine these well-preserved sacrifices, woolly creatures, and other incredible things because of this fact.
Ice As A Preservative
Winter Wartime
The remnants of previous wars also surface a lot in icy environments. During the Great War, battles were waged in the Alps. As we know by now, there is nothing worse than fighting in an icy trench. Many soldiers suffered frostbite and hypothermia up there. If the battle did not spell the end for them, the blistering cold did. You’re right if you guessed that they froze and got preserved in the process!
Winter Wartime
More Frozen People
Isn’t it disconcerting to hear of people found frozen in ice? You might be surprised to hear how many people have suffered these terrible fates. Recently, scientists uncovered a body estimated to be around 300 years old. Apparently, he was the First Nations people’s ancestor! Called “Long Ago Man”, he had a robe made of ninety-five pelts, a fur coat, a walking stick, and fish scales. He was probably well-off!
More Frozen People
The Best Woolly Mammoth Specimen
Scientists probably expect to find woolly mammoths on these expeditions. The prehistoric beast used to roam Alaska, Siberia, and other places in the Arctic. The specimen was discovered in a Siberian ice tomb. Believed to be 39,000 years old, it is considered to be one of the best-preserved specimens ever!
The Best Woolly Mammoth Specimen
Significance Of Spears
There were other weapons they found in ice patches. Scientists initially believed there were no humans in Yellowstone during ancient times until they discovered a spear that was 10,300 years old! Of course, it was used to hunt animals and clear fauna. This means there were humans in such cold weather in Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho!
Significance Of Spears
Meet Otzi Man
You might have heard of Otzi Man in the past as he is one of the most famous humans discovered in the snow. Believed to be 5,300 years old, his body was discovered between Italy and Austria in the Alps. He is the genetic ancestor of a significant number of Austrians in the area! However, he was suffering from gallstones, gum disease, hardened arteries, parasitic worms, worn joints, and Lyme disease. Aside from the state of his health, there was also an arrow in his shoulder and blunt-force trauma in his skull.
Meet Otzi Man
Woolly Creatures
You will normally find furry animals in areas where the weather is extremely cold. The woolly rhino is one such creature. This recent find was well-preserved enough that its fur remained intact where predators had not chewed on it. This rhino was estimated to be about 18 months old. Discovered in Sakha in Russia, it was believed that the last of these animals went extinct about 10,000 years ago.
Woolly Creatures
Sabretooth Tiger Cub
Sabretooth tigers roamed the Arctic, though Russian scientists discovered these unique specimens in Yakutia in Siberia. These cubs were also so well-preserved the fur remains the same. They died out about 10,000 years ago as well. Scientists believe that their demise came after the rise of human hunting and global heating.
Sabretooth Tiger Cub
Atlatls
If you thought you saw the last of human weapons on this list, you were wrong! This is the atlatl, one of the first weapons by modern humans. Did you know it existed even before the bow and arrow? It came with a notched handle that could hold a long spear. Atlatls normally underwent customization for the bearer. Apparently, it offered a spear more accuracy than if you throw it by yourself!
Atlatls
Caribou Poop Findings
Scientists have also discovered a dart shaft in caribou poop! We know it sounds gross but let us tell you what it revealed. This only went to show the number of hunters in the area. These people were also craftsmen in their own right! We would not have known it had scientists not gone through poop.
Caribou Poop Findings
Bacteria From Beyond
Another weird find would be the old bacteria in the ice. Recent specimens have dated back to nearly 250,000 years in the past! Meanwhile, they also discovered a chunk of ice believed to be 8 million years old. There is only one type of bacteria with the ability to survive this level of cold: those with spores. These features basically let them hibernate and survive extreme external conditions.
Bacteria From Beyond
Bad News Bacteria
However, there are bacteria that are latent in ice. They are typically more dangerous because we have never been exposed to these strains. In Siberia, reports say that anthrax reemerged in nearby small towns for this very reason. Bubonic plague could possibly be hiding in the permafrost as well! Yikes.
Bad News Bacteria
A Warming World
Many of these discoveries were the result of the rapidly warming climate. With the shift in temperatures, permafrost fades and snow melts faster than before. Bodies and elements hidden in the ice have now resurfaced. Although there are many reasons why global warming is bad, it has allowed humanity many interesting scientific opportunities as well.
A Warming World
More Caribou Poop
Another consistent discovery that scientists make would be animal excrement. It might not be as exciting as the other items here, but you will be surprised by all the things they reveal. Among other things, we can learn about animals and their habits in the past! Caribou poop will let us study what it ate, where it ate, and where the food came from.
More Caribou Poop
Warming Is Bad
Although the rapid rate of melting will provide a better yield for archaeologists, there is also the fact that it encourages a faster decomposition rate. With the melted ice and permafrost, artifacts will experience the weathering process they used to be immune to. After such exposure, degeneration happens. Arrowheads, sinew, and even bone will eventually break apart without immediate treatment.
Warming Is Bad
What Ice Patches Are
The arctic ice patches are suffering the worst from this rapid deterioration rate. An ice patch is formed when snow aggregates pile up and preserve the layers. Animals typically go to these patches. Some of them die and solidify there. It is often these animal remains that scientists discover in these ice patches! Tom Andrews is a pioneer in this fascinating field of study.
What Ice Patches Are
Shelter Building
Rare wood occasionally makes its way to the ice patches as well. The nearest tree to the site was a couple of miles away, which means it was first stripped and carved before it made it all the way to the ice patch. Scientists think it might have been used for shelters back in the day.
Shelter Building
Birch Baskets
Scientists also discovered a well-preserved birch basket in an ice patch. Although this is not particularly mysterious, the finding revealed information about the people who made it and why. The basket was discovered in 2003 and believed to be 650 years old! It came with a 2.3-inch rim and sloped edges. The weaved pattern revealed the creativity and brilliance of the tribe where it came from. No plant material had been used and the weaves were folded into wood panels.
Birch Baskets
Branches Of Archaeology
As a response to global warming, fields of science have since flourished. Ice patch and glacial archaeology are included here as they study the remnants in permafrost, receding glaciers, and ice patches. With global warming accelerating the melting, scientists keep finding new important discoveries.
Branches Of Archaeology
Gopher Sticks
We know how it sounds, but we are not talking about a stick of gophers. We are referring to a contraption used to catch gophers! The trap worked by hooking a snare around a carved stick that would be connected to a string. Pressure builds in there and lets it trap the gopher as soon as it leaves the hole. According to scientists, it is around 1,800 years old!
Gopher Sticks
The Things We Find
The receding ice patches and glaciers have also paved the way for the discovery of a different activity pattern. At mountain ranges, we see objects unique to the area that lets us understand what people were doing in the region. In North American and Norwegian ice patches, tools for hunting are common. In the Alps, travel gear is not unusual. In South America, ritual artifacts were unearthed. How fascinating is this?
The Things We Find
The Willow Bow
The willow bow is yet another weapon discovered in the receding ice patches. Made using willow wood, the bow was likely used to hunt reindeer and elk. This specific bow goes back to around 340 years in the past. It was among the first findings made by Tom Andrews! He rallied support from national and local funders to go on the expedition. He also used helicopters and aerial photos to accomplish his mission!
The Willow Bow
Same But Different
This is what a prehistoric moose looks like. Although it does not look a lot like the one we know now, it has undeniable similarities to the Alaskan and Canadian beast. We are talking about traits such as antlers, fur, and attitude! Scientists found out that the ice-age creatures have a phenotype similar to few animals that exist in this day an age. Of course, we are talking about none other than the antlers and fur.
Same But Different
Squid Outside Water
What a rare sight! This squid is definitely not in its normal environment. It is not any regular squid either as it looks just like a giant deep-sea one. Moreover, there seem to be legs attached to it! We have no idea what this creature is but it sure is bizarre. Upon closer inspection, it appears to have horse-life fur! We would really want to know what it is when scientists have figured it out.
Squid Outside Water
Freezing Frog
We know how the story goes about the frog that crossed the road, right? It didn’t end well, and cold streams will end in the same result. The frog was hoping to make its way through this stream. However, it was not a wise decision because it never returned from that trip. The cold air made it freeze in the middle of the journey!
Freezing Frog
Goodbye Donkeys
There are times when you just want to leave your donkeys in the snow, but you should know it won’t end well. Several donkeys froze over after a lack of attention. It is interesting that it did not collapse from the cold. The animals simply got up and died. The person tasked to look after them did a terrible job, that much is obvious.
Goodbye Donkeys
The Mystery Continues
With more glaciers receding and ice patches melting, we can only expect more bizarre things to come out of the ice. At the moment, we have already seen dead people, long-extinct animals, and ancient human equipment. We are sure the mystery will never end until the ice has melted off completely! However, let us not forget that there are terrible things lurking in there as well. Are you excited or terrified about what the future holds?
The Mystery Continues
Mummified Dinosaur
Another icy discovery we have here would uncover another biological fact. Let us take a look at how ice-age animals defended themselves from threats. This is called a nodosaur and scientists believe it existed nearly 110 million years ago during the Cretaceous period. One self-defense mechanism it boasted of was its ability to grow an armor and some spikes!
Mummified Dinosaur
Human Sacrifice Rituals: Part I
This might be the most chilling item on the list. In Chile, they discovered Inca sacrifice remains at the tallest points of the Andes Mountains. The traditions are not uncommon to ancient societies, but that does not make it any better. It is even more disconcerting to learn that there were children remains among those found. They often conducted these rituals to ask for rain, protection, and good harvest.
Human Sacrifice Rituals: Part I
Human Sacrifice Rituals: Part II
Human sacrifice was a part of the Incan culture. These rituals were made in the name of Inti, and they resorted to even more extreme measures when the going got tough. Children were not spared during these moments. The harsh cold allowed the preservation of such sacrifices. This boy was well-preserved enough for the scientists to figure out his age, blood type, and social status! Whoa.
Human Sacrifice Rituals: Part II
Ice Plane
While the rare crashed-plane is generally not to be found again, this one was. In 1952, an Anchorage-bound military plane crashed into a nearby glacier. This unfortunate crash killed 41 passengers and 11 crew members. Due to the unsafe conditions of the weather and glaciers, police and emergency rescue workers couldn’t get to them to save any part of the accident. It wasn’t for another 50 years of melting ice that the glacier became safe enough to extract any remnants from this day.
Ice Plane
War Remnants
Certain battles during World War I were fought high up in the Alps, which makes it all the less surprising that artifacts were found up there. Freezing cold temperatures left a ton of soldiers frostbitten at best; most soldiers who fought here didn’t die from the battle, but rather from extreme cold.
War Remnants
Atlatl Darts
Atlatl darts were commonly seen as human weaponry in ancient times. These arts were some of the first kind of weapons made by modern-day humans, next to the bow and arrow, of course. The construction of these darts was simple: it was just a handle with a six-foot spear attached to it. Most of the time, these weapons were custom made with hand carvings drawn into them.
Atlatl Darts
10,000-Foot Mountain Range
Believe it or not, buried deep beneath thick layers of ice in Antarctica is an incredibly large mountain range called the Gamburtsev Mountains. Scientists have known about these mountains for over 50 years, but since it’s so deeply buried beneath a mile-thick patch of ice, there wasn’t much anyone could find out about it. Only recently have scientists began to have the ability to see the mountains, but they’ve learned so much already. It is a series of mountains with peaks up to 10,000 feet high sprawling across 750 miles. Wow!
10,000 Foot Mountain Range
Lake Filled With Life
This 25-million-year-old lake was discovered in 2012 by Russian Scientists. They found this lake by drilling more than 2 miles deep into an ice patch; they weren’t quite expecting to find a lake down there! Lake Vostok is now the continent’s biggest subglacial lake. Even cooler than finding a thawed lake in the middle of ice glaciers: the tests they ran on the lake showed signs of some sort of alien life. The lake had been untouched for millions of years, and the bacteria the scientists found in the lake was something no one had ever seen before. On top of Lake Vostok, scientists found yet another lake buried deep in ice glaciers in 2016, which also contained bacteria that was never seen before. Interesting…
Lake Filled With Life
Grasshopper Infestation
Most people don’t love grasshoppers around them, simply for the fact that they can be pesky, but especially at this specific glacier, grasshoppers are the enemy. They ruined a whole glacier by infesting it with millions and millions of grasshoppers; so much so that it’s actually now called Grasshopper Glacier! These creatures were tested in 1914 and were found to be members of a species that was thought to be extinct for over 200 years already. Hopefully these icy grasshoppers don’t detract tourists too much.
Grasshopper Infestation
A Fish-Lizard Graveyard
When a group of international researchers trekked down to the Torres del Paine National Park in Chile, they were not expecting to discover 46 complete fossil sets of a rare creature called the Ichthyosaur- otherwise known as a fish-lizard to the common guy. These remains are somewhere between 100-150 million years old, and scientists even found embryos and soft tissue along with the skeletons. Unlike most fish and most lizards you may have in mind, these animals are not small; some of the ones they found were more than 16 feet long!
Fish-Lizard Graveyard
Reindeer Corpses
Yes, you read that correctly. Scientists found a big group of about 1,200 reindeer corpses in Western Siberia. These reindeer were all found to be infected by Anthrax, and it was also later discovered that said reindeer passed on this disease to some 15,000 humans that lived in the same community as the reindeer. Yikes.
Reindeer Corpses
An Iron-Age T-Shirt
I’m sure you’ve found some weird personal objects on your hiking trail at some point, perhaps things that simply look like they fell out of a backpack: a shoe, a sock, a hat, etc.? Well, thanks to melting glaciers, archaeologists are finding iron-age pieces of clothing- around 2,000 items, to be exact! Most of the artifacts have been things like arrowheads and horseshoes, but scientists have also found mittens, and in 2011 researchers from the University of Oslo and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology found a shirt they dated to between A.D. 230 and A.D. 390. Wow!
An Iron-Age T-Shirt
32,000 Year Old Seeds
If you’re someone who can’t seem to keep their houseplants alive, you’ll be dumbfounded to hear that scientists managed to grow plants that derived from 32,000-year-old seeds that were discovered from melted ice that was first hidden by an ice age squirrel! A team of Russian researchers first discovered said seeds along the Kolyma River buried 124 feet deep in the permafrost. It’s pretty impressive that the researchers were still able to grow live plants from these seeds!
32,000 Year Old Seeds
Real-Life Treasure
When a mountain climber turned in a box of jewels to French law enforcement in 2013, I bet he wasn’t expecting that there were 100 precious jewels including rubies, emeralds, and sapphires in there; moreover, I bet he wasn’t expecting that those jewels were worth $300,000! He found the box in the ice on Mont Blanc, and it was later discovered that the jewels came as a result of the Air India flight that crashed on the mountain in 1966 that killed 117 passengers. Because of the location of the crash and the treacherous weather surrounding it, the pieces from the crash were never truly recovered, but in the years since, bits and pieces have been rediscovered. We hope this honest hiker has some good karma coming for him!
Real Life Treasure
A Horse
In September 2013, bones from an Iron Age horse were discovered on a mountain 6,500 feet high up in Norway. Because the horses were discovered next to manure and a horseshoe, archaeologists have reason to believe that the Iron Age people were using these horses to carry their cargo. Though scientists are trying to answer all of the questions they have about this, they’re worried that with the melting ice will come a loss of artifacts; the horses are securely stuck in the ice, but they aren’t sure what will happen once the ice melts.
A Horse
Mummies Wrapped In Copper
The mummified bodies of an adult and child were recently extracted from the melting glaciers in Siberia, inside the Arctic Circle. The bodies were found in Zelenyy Yar, which has been an ongoing archaeological site since 1997. Researchers have discovered over 100 mummies buried in this area; the most recent mummies discovered have been shown to be at least 5 ft 7 inches tall and they are covered in canvas and bark with copper strips laid over them; in addition to the adult, a 6-month-old baby was the other mummy discovered. Archaeologists think these mummies come from the Medieval period.
Mummies Wrapped In Copper
New Islands
Between 1999-2014, researchers studying the Steenstrup and Kier Glaciers in northwest Greenland have discovered several new islands that are emerging from ice caps. In the last 60 years, the glaciers have retreated over six miles, which has, in turn, unveiled several islands that were once covered in ice. Scientists have suggested that if global warming continues the way it is right now, more land that has been covered in ice for thousands of years could be exposed.
New Islands
A Global Warning
This guy took “message in a bottle” to a whole new level. This wasn’t just a message in a bottle, though; this was a warning from the past to the future. Paul T. Walker wanted to prove global warming and prove that glaciers were in fact moving and melting away. He did this by deciding to bury a bottle near some rocks in 1959. The letter said that whoever found the bottle needed to measure the distance from one end of the glacier to the bottle. In 2013 when researchers found the bottle, they discovered that the glacier had in fact retracted over 200 feet in just 60 years. If this doesn’t prove Walker’s point on global warming, I don’t know what would.
A Global Warning