Out of the Ice: How Climate Change is Revealing the Past
Out of the Ice: How Climate Change is Revealing the Past
Woolly mammoths are the most famous ice-age animals and not just because they’re often seen in cartoons and on toy shelves. We know a lot about them because of melting permafrost. Mammoth tusks, teeth and bones have been found in northern Russia and northwestern North America for centuries, but recently several extremely well-preserved mammoth bodies have melted out of the Russian permafrost.
One was Yuka, a female who died 39,000 years ago when she was no more than nine years old. Her frozen body was found in 2010 near the north coast of Siberia. Unhealed scratches on her hide and bite marks on her tail suggest that she might have been chased by cave lions. The permafrost had even preserved Yuka’s brain. Scientists say its structure is very similar to that of a modern elephant, even though mammoths and elephants became separate species about seven million years ago.
I can’t imagine a child aged between eight and twelve who would not be intrigued by the subject matter of this book which describes the newly evolving branch of science called glacial archaeology. Sadly, this fascinating subject has only come about as a result of global warming that, of course, is so unwelcome in other ways.
As glaciers, permafrost and ice-caps (together known as the cryosphere) melt due to climate change, numerous objects frozen for periods ranging from decades to hundreds of thousand years are surfacing. These include caribou dung (2,400 years old) a hunting dart (4,300), a mammoth possibly killed by humans (45,000), a perfectly preserved human mummy called Otzi (5,200), children sacrificed in the Andes (520) and a plane with all its passengers on board (66).
As soon as they emerge from the ice, these objects begin to disintegrate, requiring urgent yet gentle treatment. Enter Time Detectives in the form of archaeologists, scientists, indigenous people and historians who use their expertise to interpret the evidence and reveal valuable information before it is lost forever. From such artifacts, we learn about the distribution of flora and fauna in ages past and of the life and customs of early man, including diet, illnesses, subsistence methods, worship and more. Incredibly, using DNA from the two hundred year old remains of a young Indigenous male found in Northwest Canada, scientists have managed to trace many of his living relatives.
Many examples of items found are from Northern Canada and the areas either side of the Bering Straits but not exclusively so. Illustrations are a combination of photographs of artifacts supplemented by pleasing complementary illustrations. Information boxes explain concepts mentioned in the text, e.g. ‘permafrost,’ ‘radio-carbon dating’. A timeline provides historical perspective, and a short resource list inspires further reading. Out of the Ice is a readable and attractive book to wonder over, one which will promote discussion on a broad spectrum of subjects.
Aileen Wortley is retired librarian from Toronto, Ontario.