Climate change destroying the Arctic
Archaeologists fear that climate change might be destroying historically valuable artifacts from the Arctic regions.
The Arctic artifacts are currently owned by the Museum of the North within the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
According to the ones in charge, the artifacts are more deteriorated than the ones discovered decades ago.
Josh Reuther, professor at the university, commented on this situation saying that climate change is responsible for the deteriorating condition of the Arctic artifacts.
This problem is has not been noticed only by the professors and researchers in museums.
Archaeologists working in the field said they have also witnessed the how these artifacts are changing because of warmer temperatures.
Max Friesen, one of the archaeologists from the University of Toronto who is currently working on a digging site in Northwest Territories of Canada, said that the situation is getting worse.
According to Friesen, these series of problems are happening at the same time and will result in a “perfect storm”.
Friesen added that some of the problems caused by climate change that are affecting the artifacts include the melting of the permafrost, the change in weather in patterns and the sea level rise.
The researchers are alarmed by this rapid deterioration and fear that things are getting much worse.
According to them, until recently, artifacts made of organic materials such as wood or bones, were kept in a good condition because they were preserved by the permafrost of the silty soils.
Friesen fears that the Arctic region, which is very rich in artifacts, will soon be destroyed by the damaging effects of climate change.
Rick Knecht, a researcher at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland who works on an archaeological site in southwestern Alaska, agrees with Friesen saying that the Arctic region is indeed richer in artifacts than other regions.
According to Knecht, the Arctic has so many valuable artifacts, compared to many other archaeological sites, which consist mainly of bones and stones.
Researchers fear that unless drastic actions are being taken in order to slow down the damaging impact of climate change, most of the artifacts buried in the Arctic regions will be deteriorated beyond repair.
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