404 Media

Whalers buried in the Norwegian Arctic in the 1600s and 1700s are thawing out of the permafrost, underscoring the threat of climate change to archaeological sites around the world.

https://www.404media.co/corpse-point-in-the-arctic-is-melting-disturbing-centuries-old-bodies/

‘Corpse Point’ In the Arctic Is Melting, Disturbing Centuries-Old Bodies

Whalers buried in the Norwegian Arctic in the 1600s and 1700s are thawing out of the permafrost, underscoring the threat of climate change to archaeological sites around the world.

404 Media
May 23 at 2:30pmBuffer
Show threadAlan Miller  🇺🇦May 23
@404mediaco so do we have any top end to how long a virus like smallpox could remain in undisturbed frozen remains?
Show threadSteinar BangMay 23
@404mediaco Was a worry a couple of years back that this would release a strain of Spanish Flu. There are cemetaries with lots of victims of the Spanish Flu up there.
Show threadSteinar BangMay 23

@404mediaco Hm.. was 1998. Not "a couple of years ago"... how time flies!

Canadian scientist Kirsty Duncan led an expedition to exhume some bodies and look for the virus.

https://arcticportal.org/ap-library/news/3689-unfreezing-the-past-could-thawing-permafrost-release-deadly-viruses

Unfreezing the Past: Could Thawing Permafrost Release Deadly Viruses? - Arctic Portal - The Arctic Gateway

The 1918 Spanish flu pandemic was one of the deadliest outbreaks in human history, infecting an estimated one-third of the global population and causing th

Arctic Portal - The Arctic Gateway