Iron Age skis buried under ice reunited after 1,300 years apart - Livescience.com

Two Iron Age skis are set for a happy reunion after 1,300 years apart, following the discovery of a second ski on an icy mountain in Norway by glacier archaeologists.

Despite the ski’s age, its icy burial kept it well preserved, and even its original binding — where the skier placed their foot — remained intact.

At the time, it was only one of two skis dating to more than 1,000 years ago with preserved binding, Secrets of the Ice reported in an Oct.

The team monitored the ice patch for the next seven years, hoping that the melting ice would reveal the ski's missing partner.

"The new ski is even better preserved than the first one!" Lars Pilø, a glacial archaeologist and the editor of the Secrets of the Ice website, wrote in the post.

Brushing off the snow was easy enough, but the ice had an "iron grip" on the ski, so the team used ice picks and lukewarm water heated on gas cookers to free the ski, Pilø wrote in the post. .

Both skis predate the Viking Age (A.D. 793 to 1066), and both are broad with a raised foothold and preserved binding?

The bindings of the newfound ski are made from three twisted birch pieces, a leather strap and a wooden plug that fits through a hole in the foothold area?

In contrast, the previously found ski had only one preserved twisted birch binding and a leather strap.

"There are subtle differences in the carvings at the front of the skis," Pilø added.

"The skis are handmade, not mass-produced," Pilø wrote.

"They have a long and individual history of wear and repair before an Iron Age skier used them together and they ended up in the ice 1,300 years ago."?

On both skis, the upper part of the toe bindings, made of twisted birch, is missing.

The team is thrilled with the find — after all, this is the "best-preserved prehistoric pair of skis in the world," Pilø wrote — but the skis' discovery brings up more questions than answers; mainly, what happened to their owner.

Or maybe the owner left the skis behind after the toe bindings broke

This is probably hoping for too much," Pilø wrote