Glacial Archaeology in the Austrian Alps (GAAA)

Abstract

As a result of global warming and the subsequent retreat of the glaciers, artefacts have emerged from the ice of the Alps repeatedly. These objects from different epochs of the last 10,000 years are of great interest to archaeology and its neighboring fields of research. Prehistoric ice finds, like those found at the Similaun (“Ötzi”) in 1991, make for scientific incentives. Such findings provide basic information about the previously unknown use of high alpine landscapes. The project “Glacial Archaeology in the Austrian Alps (GAAA),” carried out at the Insitute of Archaeologies at the University of Innsbruck, has the objective of providing a three-column system: A GIS-based prediction model of areas where finds can be expected, surveys and public relations to lay the foundations for future archaeological research of the glacial areas of Austria.