IDAHO FALLS, Idaho — Although archaeology has been around for centuries, “ice patch” archaeology really became a new discipline in 1991 when Otzi the Iceman — a 5,000-year-old body nearly perfectly preserved — was found high in the Italian-Austrian Alps by hikers.
Otzi was found because permanent ice patches and glaciers have been melting back and retreating in recent decades. The Iceman, older than Egyptian pyramids, offered a peek at a human from the Copper Age. Interestingly, it appears he ran up into mountains to escape combatants and died with an arrow point stuck in a shoulder.
Archaeologists began looking at other places in the world where retreating ice caused by a changing climate might reveal glimpses from the past.