Warming Climate in Norway Reveals Relics of Ancient Viking Trade Route

OSLO — Ice patches that melted from the slopes of a remote mountain pass in Norway have revealed artifacts that provide new insight into the livelihood of hunters, traders and travelers along a route thousands of years old, archaeologists said this month.

A horse snowshoe.

The relics of this distant past include tunics and mittens woven with wool, leather shoes, arrows are still adorned with feathers, and snowshoes made for horses. Giant stone cairns mark old pathways once used by traders to find their way through fog and heavy snow. Antlers, bone and animal dung have also been found, the archaeologists behind the project said.

The discoveries, outlined in the scientific journal Antiquity, were made on the central mountain range in Norway’s Innlandet County by the Glacier Archaeology Program, one of many programs worldwide studying what glaciers and ice patches are laying bare as they shift and melt because of climate change.

Read the story from The New York Times by Henrik Pryser Libell and Christine Hauser - “Warming Climate in Norway Reveals Relics of Ancient Viking Trade Route.”

Hundreds of flights cancelled as wild weather hits east coast

Wild winds battering Australia's east coast have left travellers stranded with dozens of flights from Melbourne to Sydney and Canberra cancelled.

Pedestrians in Sydney struggle in the windy conditions. 

And Victorians won't be spared Mother Nature's wrath with snow, thunderstorms and rain heading for the state.

Hundreds of flights have been cancelled at Sydney Airport from Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra with the city's train services also in chaos as gusts of than 100km/h wreak havoc on the city's harbour. 

Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin have all had to cancel or delay flights to Sydney and Canberra due to strong winds.

Read Melissa Cunningham’s story in the Melbourne Age - “Hundreds of flights cancelled as wild weather hits east coast.”