Faunal finds from alpine ice – natural or archaeological depositions?

Inland ice covers large areas of the world’s surface, but the ecology of the ice itself is poorly studied and largely unknown. A large variety of melted out faunal finds from glaciers and ice patches around the world have been discovered for more than 150 years. These finds hold a unique and largely untapped information potential for archaeology, faunal history and glacial ecology. In order to retrieve information from this frozen databank we need a better understanding of how the material were deposited. This article provides a background for glacial faunal finds worldwide and presents the relatively large Norwegian collections for the first time. The Norwegian finds are very well preserved, allowing good insights into the taphonomy of the finds. While most finds seem to be naturally deposited, many of the sites are interesting hybrids between archaeological and natural history sites. Potential implications and prospects for future management and research are further discussed.