| In recent years, ice in mountainous areas from all over the world has begun to melt at increasing rates due to global climate change. In association with this trend, researchers have found significant quantities of preserved archaeological material melting from kinetically-stable alpine and sub-alpine “ice patches.” These artifacts include organic and lithic hunting technology, items of clothing, even occasional human remains. This paper synthesizes the findings and the methodologies of ice patch archaeology worldwide thus far in an effort to provide researchers with a broadened perspective on artifact collection and interpretation. In addition, I test the hypothesis that increased quantities of alpine ice in prehistory should correlate with decreased human use of these areas, and vice versa. I analyze the relationship between the frequencies of regional artifact dates over time, the nature of these artifacts, and glacial advances and retreats. Ultimately, I conclude that the fundamental difference among these assemblages and their correlation (or lack thereof) with alpine ice extents is based in the intention and the activity of the people who deposited the artifacts. Thus the frequencies of Norwegian artifact dates do not decrease with the increase of alpine ice because local hunters were actively seeking ice patches to set up their communal drives and blinds. In the Alps, where people were coming into contact with ice patches largely incidentally along travel corridors, increased ice does correlate with decreased human use. In North America, where hunters used ice patches as one aspect of a hunting practice capitalizing on predictable animal behavior, the quantity of alpine ice appears to have been one factor among many controlling the intensity of human use, creating a complex relationship between artifact frequencies and glacial advances. |
