Thawing ice has revealed a treasure trove of previously hidden World War I artifacts in the Italian Alps.  Last month, a team from the Stelvio National Park’s White War Museum excavated a cave shelter, built by Austrian soldiers, atop Mount Scorluzzo and acquired 300 “exciting” artifacts, ranging from coins to corpses, helmets and weapons. 

No one had been inside the space, which was hidden and closed off by ice, in nearly 100 years. But as a result of rising temperatures, a glacier that had prevented access to the shelter had sufficiently melted in 2017 to allow researchers into what they’ve discovered to be a gold mine of items.