Antarctic Melt: Pyramids, Structures and Mummified Seals

1. Mummified seals in the hills

Antarctica is the only continent on Earth that is shared by various countries. Each has a ‘slice’ of the pie, so to speak – and military occupation is ‘not allowed’ although I am sure that can be contested. 

Early on when Shackleton, Scott and various other explorers set out to Antarctica some had noticed frozen and mummified seals strewn about. Some seals are found about 40 miles or more inland, and up to 2000 feet above sea level. To this day, this is a relatively unknown phenomenon because there has been no real concensus as to how or why the seals remain where they do, so far from the shore. Various carbon dating has been done on the seals, and although C4 techniques can yield faulty results in Antarctica, some seals date from roughly 2,600 to 6000 years ago. 

Many are found stripped to the bone, others are mummified – lacking in blubber mass, cut, broken – dirt, sand and rocks lodged in the stomach or some seals are without food. The majority of the seals ‘appear’ to be rather young, though the mummification process due to cold does shrink the body.

An explanation? Some scientists think they lost their way – got trapped inland, funnelled up to a point where they would see a glacier and think it ice cover. So they would trek along, 40 miles or more, up hills and down slopes to eventually die.

How did the seals transport themselves to such heights – so far inland? Some seals show cut marks where they bled, so researchers think they must have fallen off the high cliffs. Would they not be strewn about in more pieces this way? 

To explain dirt, rocks and sand in the stomach researchers think they must have eaten it, to stave off starvation from walking so far inland and up hills. 

2. Possible structures revealed through melting ice