Glacier archeology in Swedish Sápmi

Glacier archeology is a growing field of research in several countries in the world, but in Sweden there is a lack of regular inventories of glaciers and snow patches. Together with five museums in Sápmi, Kerstin Lidén wants to change that.

In Norway, regular archaeological inventories of glaciers have been carried out for many years. Arrows, with wooden shafts and mussel shells as tips, dated to the Bronze Age and a wooden sledge dating to the Iron Age are some of the many examples of finds made.

Glaciers and snow patches store and preserve organic material. With global warming, these are melting, with discoveries thawing and the organic material being broken down. Objects made from organic material are usually very rare archaeological finds but can provide important information about our understanding of our prehistory. The finds can provide information about the material culture and about activities that we otherwise lack.

During archaeological inventories at the end of August 2017, 2018 and 2019, a number of animal bones were collected from a number of glaciers and snow patches in the Norrbotten mountains. The oldest bone that has been dated so far is dated to 355-55 BC, in addition, bones of pure dating to the pre-Roman Iron Age have also been found.

Kerstin Lidén will together with Jamtli, Västerbotten Museum, Norrbotten Museum, Silvermuseet and Ájtte Swedish Mountain and Sami Museum carry out a five-year inventory program. The museums have the necessary local knowledge for the areas in which they are located. Affected Sami villages and local people will also be involved in identifying areas of interest, in the inventory work but also in the dissemination work.

A large part of the budget will be allocated to costs for carbon-14 dating. Dating the finds is of great importance as it is impossible to determine which bones are old when they were lying in snow. The program will be coordinated by the Archeological Research Laboratory at Stockholm University, but all planning for inventories and investigations will be done jointly between museums, Sami villages and the coordinator.