Overview

• Excavations in the Arne Qvamgrotta cave during 2021–22 uncovered bones from 46 species of mammals, birds and fish dating to a warmer interval of the last ice age about 75,000 years ago.
• The assemblage features polar bears, walruses, bowhead whales, Atlantic puffins, collared lemmings and freshwater fish, painting a picture of a once ice-free coastal tundra ecosystem.
• Radiocarbon dating and DNA analyses confirmed the community’s age and showed that none of these lineages survived when glacial conditions returned.
• The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, fills a major gap in Arctic ecological records older than 10,000 years.
• Multidisciplinary teams are now translating these paleoecological findings into conservation strategies aimed at bolstering today’s warming and fragmented Arctic habitats.