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SWITZERLAND — Scientists are encouraging hikers and climbers in the Swiss Alps to keep their eyes open for priceless, ancient artifacts.
Thanks to the warming planet, glaciers that have stood in the Alps for thousands of years are melting and exposing bits of history. A cultural institute in Switzerland is encouraging those scaling the mountains to turn in bits of found objects.
"In recent decades mountaineers have found everything from goat skin leggings in the Swiss Alps to a corpse in the melting ice of South Tyrol, each about 5,000 years old," The Associated Press said.
Leandra Naef, who had the idea for the project, has done extensive research that narrows the search to about 300 sites: "She then prioritized them by how often they might have been used by past mountain travelers," The AP said.
Naef hopes to explore some of the sites herself, but is relying on the cooperation of outdoorsy adventurers to help find the valuable pieces of the past.
