Greta Thunberg says France targeting climate activists


Police remove Greta Thunberg as they move climate activists who are blocking the entrance to Oljehamnen in Malmo

Reuters
Thu, June 22, 2023

PARIS (Reuters) - Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg said on Thursday that campaigners were being "systemically targeted with repression" in France, where she attending a finance summit.

"We are seeing extremely worrying developments where activists all over the world are experiencing increased repressions just for fighting for our present and our future," the 20-year-old Thunberg said.

"For example, here in France just the other day," she added. "They are paying the price for defending life and for the right to protest."

On Wednesday, the French government shut down the environmental activist group Les Soulevements de la Terre for provoking armed protests or violent actions, a move immediately criticized by the leftist opposition and NGOs.

The French interior ministry wasn't immediately available for comment.

(Reporting by Richard Lough; Editing by Mark Potter)

US engineers contributed to Missouri River flood damage and must pay landowners, court rules


 Homes sit in floodwaters on Hoge Island north of Bismarck, N.D., along the Missouri River flood plain, on June 15, 2011. A federal appeals court has sided with hundreds of landowners along the Missouri River Friday, June 16, 2023, who say the federal government owes them millions for years of flood damage in a case that could be bound for the U.S. Supreme Court. 

(Tom Stromme/The Bismarck Tribune via AP, File) 

MARGERY A. BECK
Thu, June 22, 2023 

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The U.S. government may have to pay tens of millions of dollars — or more — to landowners along the Missouri River after a court ruled it worsened flooding there since 2007 that killed crops and wrecked homes and businesses.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a lower court's 2020 ruling that the federal government must pay for the landowners' loss of value to the land. But the appeals court went even further in its decision last Friday, saying that the government must also pay them for crops, farm equipment and buildings lost to the flooding and finding the government contributed to the devastating flood of 2011.

Courts have found the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers responsible for recurrent flooding since 2007, three years after it changed how it manages the Missouri River’s flow to better protect the habitat of endangered fish and birds. It did so by notching dikes to increase water flow, keeping more water in reservoirs and reopening historic chutes, allowing the river to meander and erode banks.

Farmers, businesses and other landowners say that unconstitutionally deprived them of their land. The courts have largely agreed, finding that the government violated constitutional protections against taking property without just compensation. That Fifth Amendment protection is often seen in cases of eminent domain, which allows a government to seize private property, with compensation, for a public purpose.


Federal officials argue that the changes the Corps made were necessary to comply with the federal Endangered Species Act and a separate requirement from Congress passed in 1986 to protect fish and wildlife.

The ruling comes as federal and state officials wrestle with the rising costs of floods made more severe by climate change, and droughts that will require tough water management choices.

It's the sort of conflict that will only worsen -- and become more expensive, said James Elliott, a sociology professor at Rice University whose focus is on the confluence of human society and the environment.

“We tend to think of these as environmental issues, but really, they’re financial issues, right?" he said. "We’ve got a lot of development in a lot of places where it’s just not sustainable.”

The Corps manages floodplains, levees, and other water infrastructure across the U.S., making critical decisions on emergency management. Any resulting court decision, and even a settlement, could have long-lasting consequences on how floodplains and ecosystems are managed in the future, although the government has indicated in court documents that the Corps is dedicated to its plan that protects endangered wildlife.

In total, the government now faces liability for floods in six of the eight years spanning from the beginning of 2007 through 2014, including particularly devastating losses in 2011.

Land value loss alone for which the government was found liable was estimated to be around $10 million by lower courts. Attorneys for the landowners had estimated that total damages could exceed $300 million. Total damages across the Missouri River basin in 2011 were estimated at around $2 billion, according to the National Climatic Data Center.

“So, if you consider how much those crop losses and the 2011 flood damage would be, you can extrapolate from there that it will be significant,” said Seth Wright, of Posinelli Law Firm in Kansas City, Missouri, who is the lead trial attorney for the landowners.

Wright said that if the history of the nearly 10-year-old legal case is an indicator, the government is likely to appeal the latest ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“It’s certainly frustrating to our clients,” Wright said. “We’re a decade into this lawsuit and a decade-and-a-half from the first flood. It’s time for the government to step up and pay.”

Federal officials argue that the courts have overlooked key factors in the case, noting that the plaintiffs’ land still occasionally flooded even before the Corps made changes to the river’s management in 2004. They say a publically available document warns of possible changes to Corps’ flood protections.

In court documents, officials argue the landowners “should have recognized long ago that the System was built to serve multiple, congressionally authorized purposes, not flood control alone,” and that they’ve never “had a property right to any particular level of federal flood-control protection.”

More than 370 landowners in Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and the Dakotas are currently represented in the lawsuit, and a merger with another class-action lawsuit of an additional 60 landowners could happen later.

Lawmakers from affected states have said the Justice Department should settle. In 2020, seven Republican U.S. senators from Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri urged the Army to negotiate with landowners.

A spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers on Wednesday referred questions to the U.S. Department of Justice, which said Thursday that it is considering its next steps following Friday's ruling.

Iowa meteorologist quits after death threats over climate coverage


Chris Gloninger KCCI/Facebook


Li Cohen
Thu, June 22, 2023

Chris Gloninger has spent nearly two decades reporting on the weather and the climate crisis. But on Wednesday, he resigned, citing numerous harassing emails and even a death threat over his reporting.

Gloninger, the chief meteorologist for CBS affiliate KCCI in Des Moines, Iowa, has spent the past 18 years working at seven news stations across five states. But on Wednesday, the New York native tweeted that he now must focus on his "health, family and combating the climate crisis" in another way.

"After a death threat stemming from my climate coverage last year and resulting in PTSD, in addition to family health issues, I've decided to begin this journey *now*," he tweeted. "...I take immense pride in having educated the public about the impacts of climate change during my career."

Gloninger has made a habit of using his forecasts to show how weather – the temporary conditions of the atmosphere that constantly changes – is impacted by climate change, a phrase that reflects how long-term weather conditions shift over time. Scientists and experts have long warned that as global temperatures warm, largely because of the excessive burning of fossil fuels, weather and natural disasters will become more deadly and intense.

And in an effort to help share information surrounding this, the Emmy-award winning meteorologist has covered a range of weather events, created Boston's first climate change series and produced broadcast specials on how climate change impacts every area of life.

The threats Gloninger referenced in his resignation began in June 2022.

"Getting sick and tired of your liberal conspiracy theory on the weather," an email Gloninger shared that's dated June 21, 2022, says. "Climate changes every day, always has, always will, your pushing nothing but a Biden hoax, go back to where you came from."

Another email dated three days later from the same address asks for his home address, saying, "We conservative Iowans would like to give you an Iowan welcome you will never forget."

And another sent from the same person a few weeks later told him to "go east and drown from the ice cap melting."

"Police are investigating. It's mentally exhausting & at times I have NOT been ok," Gloninger tweeted at the time. "...The threat of course was concerning, but the stream of harassing emails is even more distressing. It means he is thinking about it constantly. He is angry about it and filled with hate."

Police eventually found the man responsible for the emails: Danny Hancock, a 63-year-old Iowa resident, the Iowa Capital Dispatch reported. He was issued a $150 fine.

CBS News has reached out to Gloninger and KCCI for comment.

The meteorologist told The Washington Post that the slew of harassment left him unable to sleep. And even after Hancock was found, the toll of the threats, as well as some happenings with his family, left him struggling.

Even though he's leaving broadcast news, he's not giving up on sharing information about the only worsening climate crisis. He said on Twitter that he is now going to "devote my full-time efforts to finding sustainable solutions and fostering positive change."

"Having a dream since you were in second grade of being a TV meteorologist?" Gloninger told The Washington Post. "Yeah. I'm going to miss it. I just hope that this is even more fulfilling than the last 18 years, my next chapter."

Bizarre object hotter than the sun is orbiting a distant star at breakneck speed


Joanna Thompson
Wed, June 21, 2023 

An illustration of a brown dwarf, a planet larger than Jupiter and massive enough to fuse atoms in its core

A weird, super-hot celestial body is breaking records and challenging astronomers' understanding of the boundary between stars and planets.

The object, called WD0032-317B, is a brown dwarf — a type of bright, gaseous "protostar". Brown dwarves typically have a similar atmospheric composition to Jupiter but are 13 to 80 times larger. At that mass, these objects begin to fuse hydrogen isotopes in their cores. However, they aren't quite massive enough to spark the kind of full self-sustaining stellar fusion that powers stars like our sun — think of smoldering charcoal rather than a lit wood-fired oven.

Related: James Webb Telescope spots galaxies from the dawn of time that are so massive they 'shouldn't exist'


Brown dwarfs usually burn at around 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,200 degrees Celsius). That's fairly cool compared with most stars, whose surface temperatures reach about 6,700 F (3,700 C).

But WD0032-317B, which is 1,400 light-years from Earth, is not like most brown dwarfs. In a paper published to the preprint database arXiv and accepted by the journal Nature Astronomy, researchers measured the object's surface temperature and found it was a blistering 13,900 F (7,700 C). That's hot enough for the molecules in its atmosphere to fall apart into their component atoms. It's also several thousand degrees hotter than the surface of our sun.

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This should be impossible for a brown dwarf. But the researchers discovered that the object got an assist from the star it orbits. WD0032-317B is extremely close to its sun, an ultra-hot white dwarf star — so close that its year lasts just 2.3 hours. That proximity means WD0032-317B is tidally locked, with one side forever facing its star while the other faces away, according to Science Alert.

Because of this, the brown dwarf is only superheated on one side; even though its "day side" temperature reaches 13,900 F, its "night side" is a comparatively balmy 1,900 to 4,900 F (1,000 to 2,700 C). That's the most extreme temperature differential astronomers have measured on a substellar object, according to the researchers. But these conditions won't last long — as its molecules continue to fall apart, the brown dwarf is being evaporated by its host star.

Research on objects like WD0032-317B could help scientists understand how hot stars slowly consume their companions. It can also add to the growing body of knowledge around the conditions that stars need to ignite.

Wolf Skull Found Left On Ancient Grave Was To Fend Off Vengeful Spirits

The discovery of the skull and the mound it was placed on are unique for the region where it was found.

Published June 16, 2023


Image credit: B. S. Szmoniewski

Ancient grave robbers placed the skull of a wolf on a burial mound to protect them from the deceased's ghost. We don't know who was buried in the mound, but their remains represent a unique find in this part of Romania.

Around 2,000 years ago, grave robbers placed the skull of a wolf on top of a burial mound in an attempt to prevent the deceased's angry spirit from seeking revenge. Now this strange sentinel has been unearthed along with the surrounding tomb, and is revealing new insights into those it was set to guard.

The barrow itself is largely invisible to the casual observer; it is located in a now heavily cultivated field on the outskirts of Cheia, a small village in southeast Romania. The area has been of archaeological interest since 2008, but geophysical research conducted in 2022 identified a 75-meter (246-foot) diameter tomb complete with two graves, buried below the surface.

One of the graves, located in the center of the mound, had a hole dug out where the body of the deceased was cremated within a wooden box, along with all their grave goods. The evidence for this being an onsite cremation is clear within the pit itself. Not only do the walls and the bottom show signs of heat, but there are also partially burnt pieces of a wooden structure left behind, along with nails and bronze fittings that would have decorated it. Although, there was very little left of the cremated skeleton itself.

After the individual was cremated, wooden planks were placed on top of the hole before the grave was filled in. According to a statement made by Dr. Bartłomiej Szymon Szmoniewski from the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, other barrows demonstrating similar cremation practices have been discovered in the town of Hârșova, “known in the Roman period as Carsium on the lower Danube.”
In addition to these cremation fragments, the team also discovered a large number of burnt walnut seeds that had been preserved in their shells, as well as the remains of several pine cones and other plants.

 

Fire-damaged walnut seeds like this, recovered from the site, indicate that a cremation took place.
Image credit: B. S. Szmoniewski


“The presence of burnt walnut seeds in the presented burial is an interesting custom known from cremation graves from the early Roman period,” Szmoniewski said. “Walnuts in the sepulchral context are interpreted as a kind of grave gift – special food for the soul. In the Casimcea river valley in Dobruja, where we are conducting research, this is the first find of its kind."

At some point during antiquity the grave was robbed, and although the thieves did not manage to steal everything left in the mound, they nevertheless left a wolf’s skull on a pile of stones that closed their robbery hole. According to Szmoniewski, this was “probably a kind of ritual and magical operation aimed at closing the looted space in order to prevent exit and possible revenge from the plundered spirit.”

“The unusual find of a wolf's skull at the exit of a robbery ditch […] may indicate that the theft was made by the Getae – a people who inhabited this area before the appearance of the Greeks and Romans," Szmoniewski added. However, the researcher believes that those buried in the graves were likely Romans who arrived in the area during Roman colonization.

A second grave was discovered in the barrow, but some distance from its center. In it, archaeologists discovered a skeleton that had been buried in a wooden structure, probably a coffin, as fragments of wood were found both above and below the remains. The skeleton had been buried with a unguentarium, a small rounded glass vessel with a long neck that was used to store perfume or cosmetics. The deceased’s jaw was found to have a bronze coin placed in it, which was issued in the reign of Hadrian (around 125-127 CE).

“The coin in the mouth of the buried refers to the ancient custom of Charon's obol, when a coin inserted into the mouth was to be used as payment to Charon for transporting the deceased's soul across the River Styx in Hades," Szmoniewski explained.

The burials in this barrow date to the middle of the second century CE and represent the first of their kind to be discovered in this region. Szmoniewski and the team are hopeful to find more like it in the future.

Dad hiking with family notices unusual rock — and finds ancient painting in Norway

Aspen Pflughoeft
Tue, June 20, 2023 

While out hiking with family, a dad noticed a rock with unusual coloring — and discovered several ancient paintings. Photos show the first-of-its kind find.

Tormod Fjeld was hiking with family in the Moss area when they stopped for a rest break near a boulder, Viken County Municipality said in a June 19 news release.

Looking at the rock, Fjeld noticed it had some unnatural coloring and patterns. He took a closer look and identified several painted scenes along the slab, officials said.

Fjeld is a graphic designer, but he — along with two friends — has spent years searching for petroglyphs around Norway, Science in Norway reported in November. The trio has identified almost 600 petroglyphs since 2016.

Archaeologists looked at the paintings Fjeld discovered and confirmed they were authentic ancient drawings, the release said.

The rock where several ancient paintings were found.

A photo with highlighted coloring shows several paintings (in red) on the rock.

Jan Magne Gjerde, an archaeologist with the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research, estimated the paintings dated to the Bronze Age, the organization said in a news release.

The ancient scenes are easy to miss. Highlighted photos show the drawings in a red hue. One scene shows two distinctly human figures standing together, possibly a hunting scene, cultural researchers said.

A photo with highlighted coloring shows two human figures, possibly a hunting scene.

A photo with highlighted coloring shows the rowboat painting.

Another enhanced photo shows a boat being rowed, officials said. Other scenes depicted animals.

The ancient paintings are the first of their kind found in the Moss area, the release said. Moss is a coastal region about 40 miles south of Oslo.

Officials urged people not to touch the rock due to its rarity and fragility, fearing that the paintings could be erased.

Google Translate was used to translate the news releases from Viken County Municipality and the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research.

Lost ruins of ‘Atlantis of the North Sea’ located after sunken church reappears

Aspen Pflughoeft
May 25, 2023·

The storm formed along the blue-gray horizon and began moving closer. It surged — a wall of impending doom — toward the medieval town. The collision was devastating. Homes were torn apart, roads flooded, lives lost.

The entire medieval trading center of Rungholt was lost during the storm surge, often called the “Great Drowning of Men,” in 1362, according to Kiel University.

But the memory of Rungholt lived on in local legends, poetry and writings, the German newspaper Focus Online reported. Some believed the rich town had become immoral and was destroyed as a punishment from God.

Others said the town’s church bells could still be heard ringing across the mudflats on a calm day, NDR, another German newspaper, reported.

The lost city of Rungholt became known as the “Atlantis of the North Sea,” Heritage Daily reported.

Researchers extract sediment to analyze the buried settlement’s remains.

“Based on archaeological finds and historical maps,” archaeologists narrowed down the location of Rungholt to somewhere in the Wadden Sea mudflats around Hallig Südfall, asmall island off the coast of Germany’s North Frisia region, according to a 2022 study.

In this area, archaeologists found indications of an important medieval settlement. Excavations uncovered “imported goods from the Rhineland, Flanders and even Spain, namely pottery, metal vessels, metal ornaments and weapons,” the study said. They also found the remains of a medieval water control system.

Researchers had not located a town center as the ever shifting, frequently flooding mudflat environment made the area hard to study, the paper said.

But that all changed with the reemergence of a sunken church, Kiel University said in a May 23 news release.

Archaeologists excavate a small area at low tide.

Archaeologists surveying the mudflats around Hallig Südfall found a string of 54 medieval mounds stretching over a mile long. The mounds included a drainage system, sea wall “with a tidal gate harbor,” ruins of two “smaller churches” and “a large main church,” the release said.

Foundation ruins of the large church indicated the building was about 130 feet by about 50 feet in size, archaeologists said.

“The special feature of the find lies in the significance of the church as the center of a settlement structure, which in its size must be interpreted as a parish with superordinate function,” archaeologist Ruth Blankenfeldt said in the release.

Archaeologists identified the ruins as the location of Rungholt. After 661 years, the ruins of the lost “Atlantis of the North Sea” has finally been found.

Although finally located, the remains of Rungholt are far from secure, Hanna Hadler, an expert involved in the excavations, told Kiel University. “Around Hallig Südfall and in other mudflats, the medieval settlement remains are already heavily eroded and often only detectable as negative imprints. This is also very evident around the church’s location, so we urgently need to intensify research here.”

The news release did not specify the next steps for excavations of Rungholt.

Germany’s North Frisia region is the country’s northernmost region, about 255 miles northwest of Berlin and near the Germany-Denmark border.

Google Translate was used to translate the articles from NDR and Focus Online.

Researchers Find a Megalodon Tooth Necklace in the Titanic Wreckage—But the Rare Object Will Probably Have to Stay at the Bottom of the Sea

Should we call this one the Mouth of the Ocean?

Adam Schrader, June 7, 202

3

A Megalodon tooth necklace from RMS Titanic wreckage was discovered after 111 years. 

Photo: Courtesy of Magellan.


Was there a real-life Rose onboard the Titanic? Lovers of the 1997 film may be shocked by a new deep-sea discovery reminiscent of the “Heart of the Ocean.”

A gold necklace made from the tooth of a prehistoric shark called a Megalodon has been found in the wreckage of the Titanic amid a massive project to scan the site of the infamous 1912 shipwreck.

In the film, Rose—a Juliet-like young woman played by Kate Winslet—wears a fictional 56-carat blue diamond necklace purchased for her by her fiancé, which plays a prominent role in the film’s plot.

“Whilst the artifact found is not the same famous necklace—which was created for the film—the discovery of the Megalodon tooth necklace is poignant,” Magellan, a firm that specializes in offshore and ultra-deepwater surveying, said in a statement.

Images taken during Magellan’s massive investigation into the sunken luxury passenger liner picked up images of the Megaladon necklace, the company said.

The firm noted that members of the public are prevented from removing artifacts lost when the ship sank under an agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom, so Magellan team members are not allowed to touch the wreckage—and the incredible find may thus be lost at the bottom of the sea forever.

“In a bid to seek out the jewelry’s owner, Magellan is using artificial intelligence to contact the family members of the 2,200 passengers onboard the Titanic when it sank,” the company said.

Megalodons are known to have lived from 20 million years ago until they become extinct around 3.6 million years ago. They are estimated to have grown up to 18 meters in length, more than three times longer than modern great white sharks.

Prehistoric cave paintings went undetected for thousands of years. Then drones flew by

Aerial view of the mountains of Penaguila where the archeologists at University of Alicante used drones to look for rock art. Image: courtesy University of Alicante.

Brendan Rascius
May 22, 2023·1 min read

Several ancient cave paintings were recently discovered along the coast of Spain by researchers using a pioneering new technique.

By flying drones into otherwise inaccessible mountain terrain, researchers were able to spot the paintings, which likely went undetected for thousands of years, according to a study published in the journal Lvcentvm.

In total, 18 caves in Alicante, a province along the Mediterranean Sea, were explored via drones equipped with cameras, according to the study.

The region is believed to have been one of the main areas on the Iberian Peninsula once inhabited by Neolithic people, and it is filled with unexplored rock formations that might harbor well-preserved art.

Of the caves searched, two were found to contain prehistoric artwork, researchers said. Raw images were analyzed in Adobe Photoshop, where the motifs could be seen more clearly after being enlarged.

Painted human figures about four inches in size photographed on a cave wall

Paintings of humans and animals that are about four inches in size discovered on cave walls

In photos taken in the first cave, a shallow cavity near a quarry, blurry figures can be seen dotting the rock walls. Measuring about 4 inches in size, the figures are believed to depict humans and animals.

The paintings portray what appear to be female archers and deer and goats, some of which are wounded by arrows, according to 20 Minutos, a Spanish newspaper. The artwork is believed to be around 7,000 years old.

In the second cave, situated in a steep ravine and hidden by thick vegetation, another series of paintings were found, though they were in poor condition due to the presence of mushrooms.

The newfound paintings are some of the first to be discovered using unmanned aerial devices, researchers said.

In the future, drones could prove highly effective at quickly and safely carrying out similar field work in remote areas.

Google Translate was used to translate the study published in the journal Lvcentvm and the 20 Minutos article.

Hiker stumbles upon 7,000-year-old fish traps in shrinking Norway lake. Take a look

Aspen Pflughoeft
Thu, June 22, 2023 

Standing on the bank of a serene lake in Norway, a hiker breathed in the crisp mountain air. As he scanned the shoreline, something caught his attention.

He noticed a series of wooden poles plunged into the dry lakebed — and stumbled on a 7,000-year-old fishing trap.

Reidar Marstein, a mountaineer and hobby archaeologist, uncovered the ancient traps at Tesse lake last summer, according to a September news release from the Cultural History Museum. The shrinking lake waters temporarily exposed the trap.

Archaeologists conducted a preliminary survey of the site and dated one of the trap’s wooden logs to 5000 B.C., the release said. These ruins are the oldest fish traps in Norway and the oldest trap of their kind in northern Europe.

A biologist marked the poles of the fish trap with taller sticks for a preliminary survey.

The fish traps were made of sharpened wooden poles plunged into the lakebed. The traps sat in shallow water and likely had a lollipop-like shape, according to the release.


Fish were funneled along a wooden fence and into the main circular trap chamber. Once inside, ancient fishermen could haul in their catch from a boat or by wading into the cold water, the release said. An illustration shows what the traps probably looked like.

But the lake’s rising water levels submerged the Stone Age traps before archaeologists could excavate last summer.

An illustration shows what the fish traps (circular structures) probably looked like 7,000 years ago.

Water levels in Tesse lake, about 180 miles northwest of Oslo, fluctuate seasonally, the Cultural History Museum said in a June 4 Facebook post. The lake shrinks in the early summer when it’s drained to produce power and refills as summer weather melts the surrounding snow.

Undeterred, archaeologists patiently waited for the lake to shrink. The first excavations of the fish traps began June 4 and continued as long as the low water levels allowed, the museum said.

Archaeologists begin excavating the ancient fish trap. The visible poles are marked with white papers.

Archaeologists located four fish traps and fully excavated one, the museum said in a June 21 update. They unearthed more than 50 incredibly well preserved wooden poles. The poles were chopped, sharpened and plunged deep into the lakebed, photos show.

The fully excavated fish trap after archaeologists finished their work for the season.

“The poles are pointed at the end and were clearly driven into the seabed with quite a bit of force,” Axel Mjærum, the archaeologist managing the excavation, told Science in Norway. “The pointed ends are slightly damaged at the tip.”

Excavations also uncovered materials that sat between the poles, made the chamber of the trap tight and prevented fish from escaping, the museum said.

One of the wooden poles stuck deep into the lakebed.

“We were quite sure that we were dealing with fish traps here, but now we are absolutely certain,” Mjærum told Science in Norway.

“It’s a find that brings us very close to the Stone Age people,” he said.

The ancient hunters who built and used these fish traps likely followed reindeer into the mountains, the release said.

A close-up photo of one of the damaged wooden poles.

“Fishing is safe and predictable,” Mjærum told Science in Norway. “Hunting reindeer with a bow and arrow is perhaps more prestigious, but also more unpredictable. It is not the fish that have drawn these people to the mountains… but the fish have made it possible to engage in reindeer hunting, which we know has been important to them.”

Previous excavations around Tesse lake had uncovered ruins of Stone Age settlements, Science in Norway reported.

Although the fishing traps are once again submerged, archaeologists will continue studying the wooden poles to understand when the traps were built and how often they were used, the museum said.

Facebook Translate was used to translate the Facebook posts from the Cultural History Museum. Google Translate was used to translate the news release from the Cultural History Museum.