A mad rush is needed to preserve or catalogue thousands of Arctic archeological sites before they are washed away by warming hastening the thaw of permafrost and coastal erosion, a study said Thursday.
For millennia, the cold has conserved ivory artifacts, driftwood houses and human remains in often near-perfect conditions.
But with faster and more severe climate change in the poles than the rest of the world, the situation has become desperate, with far more sites that will soon be lost than scientists have the time or resources to document.
“An increasing number of ancient sites and structures around the world are now at risk of being lost,” said the study published Thursday in the research journal Antiquity.
“Once destroyed, these resources are gone forever, with irrevocable loss of human heritage and scientific data.” Read more.
House of Brat 