An ancient hunting bow and arrows from over 5 thousand years ago have been uncovered by a melting snow bank in the mountains of Norway.

An ancient hunting bow and arrows from over 5 thousand years ago have been uncovered by a melting snow bank in the mountains of Norway.
Archaeologists from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology discovered the artifacts while taking their annual measurements of snow levels during the summer months in the Trollheim and Dovre mountains.

The artifacts were uncovered and found separately in 2010 and 2011, and are reportedly similar to items found by archaeologists working in the Yukon and other areas that are thousands of miles away.

Researchers used radioisotope dating, which showed that the bow found in Norway could be around 38 hundred years old, and the oldest arrow dated to 54 hundred years ago.

The ancient bow is made from elm that commonly grows at a lower altitude than where it was found, and the arrows are made from different kinds of wood with slate tips.

Archaeologist Martin Callanan, who worked on the study said: “It's actually a little bit unnerving that they're so old and that they're coming out right now. It tells us that there's something changing.”