Scientists in southern Norway have recovered 48 Stone Age arrowheads and shafts in what is billed as the world’s largest glacial archaeology expedition. The team is in its 20th year of surveying melting glaciers for ancient artefacts, according to a report on October 9.

As ice retreats, it reveals objects lost by hunters thousands of years ago. Each arrowhead is a time capsule from a world before writing.

The finds help archaeologists understand how early humans lived, hunted and moved through mountain landscapes. The shafts show the craft that went into every weapon.

Glacial archaeology is a race against time. Artefacts preserved in ice for millennia can decay within years once exposed to air.

The Norwegian programme shows what patient, long-term fieldwork can achieve. Climate change is melting the ice archives of human history, making such expeditions urgent.

Each find is carefully documented before it is moved. The work continues each summer as more ice melts. The team shares its discoveries with museums. Their patience shows in every recovered piece.