4,000-Year-Old Arrow Found in Melting Glacier in Norway

Found on the 6,500-foot Mount Lauvhøe in northwestern Norway’s Lom Municipality.

Norwegian archaeologists have discovered an arrowhead that appears to be from the Stone Age about 4,000 years ago, according to a report by US public radio NPR on the 6th (local time).

The arrowhead was found in Mount Lauvhøe, about 6,500 feet high in the Romerike region of northwestern Norway. Archaeologists had previously discovered arrows from the Iron Age and the Medieval period during their last survey of the area in 2017.

Over the years, as the ice in the area melted, they discovered the arrowhead this time, said Lars Holger Pilø, co-director Serects of the Ice.

He explained that this arrowhead is more than 2,000 years older than the previously discovered ones, indicating that the history of this region goes much deeper in time.

Researchers can estimate the artifact’s age based on its appearance alone, but they plan to take a sample of the arrowhead’s wood once the on-site study is completed to measure its carbon dating.

This discovery could be evidence that ancient hunters, thousands of years ago, pursued reindeer migrating to areas with snow and ice to escape swarms of gadflies during the summer.

Pilø said, “Sometimes arrows missed their target and got stuck deep in the snow,” and added, “It’s a sad event for the hunters, but from an archaeological perspective, it’s like hitting the bullseye.”

He added that the area where the arrowhead was discovered is one of the 66 glacier heritage sites in Norway, and more than 4,000 archaeological artifacts have been discovered in these sites in recent years.

According to a post by archaeologists on X (former Twitter), the arrowhead was difficult to date because both ends were broken.

At first, archaeologists believed the arrowhead was from the Iron Age. Still, after removing the sediment that had accumulated on it from the glacier, they concluded that it was much older than originally thought.

In a post on X, scholars stated, “The arrowhead’s tip appears to have been sharpened by chipping stones, suggesting that it dates back to about 4,000 years ago.”

They also explained the remarkable preservation power of ice in another post, saying, “Ice, like bringing a sleeping beauty from a forest, brings valuable artifacts from the past back as if in a time machine.”