A dog hospital, food stores and a ship’s anchor – these are historic Antarctic artefacts left behind from expeditions of the heroic age and now revealed in 2022.
A collection of items has been made visible to the Antarctic Heritage Trust’s conservation team this season due to a season of low winter snow accumulation and high snowmelt. Mutton carcasses, the ship Aurora’s second anchor (still with the shackles attached) and a scientific measuring device were among the items revealed.
The items are located around Scott’s Terra Nova hut at Cape Evans - the iconic base associated with Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s British Antarctic Expedition (1910–1913) and his ill-fated expediton to the Geographic South Pole.
Antarctic Heritage Trust lead conservator Jane Hamill says these sightings are really important, as the objects either weren’t recorded or had only rarely been seen over the last 105 years.
“These items tell us a lot about the activities that went on in and around the explorers’ hut. As a conservator, these are the finds that excite us and reinforce why we do what we do,” says Jane.
Read more at nzhat.org
Footage © Antarctica New Zealand/Anthony Powell
