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Abstract FROM BALLOONING IN THE ARCTIC TO 10,000 FOOT RUNWAYS DURING THE 1957-1958 IGY: POLAR AERONAUTICS AND HISTORIC ARCHAEOLOGY IN SVALBARD, AND ANTARCTICA Noel D. Broadbent The author has conducted three archaeological investigations of
historic sites in the polar regions. The first site is that of the
Solomon A. Andrée expedition camp on White Island, Svalbard.
This fateful ballooning expedition to the North Pole in 1897 was
the first experiment in polar aeronautics. Andrée and his
colleagues gave their lives but opened the door to polar flight,
the backbone of polar logistics today. The other site, East Base,
on Stonington Island off the Antarctic Peninsula, served the1939-41
US Antarctic Service Expedition, under Admiral Richard Byrd, the
first American government-sponsored scientific and aerial mapping
effort in Antarctica. In 1992, a team of archaeologists documented
and secured the site which has been recently recognized as an historic
monument by the Antarctic treaty nations. The third site is Marble
Point on Victoria Land across from Ross Island and McMurdo Station.
In conjunction with the IGY 1957-1958, a massive effort was put
into laying out a 10,000 foot year-round runway, creating a fresh
water reservoir and other base facilities. It was one of the premier
locations for strategic aviation in Antarctica. The site was archaeologically
surveyed and original engineering documentation from 1956-57 offers
superb baselines for studying permafrost, erosion and human disturbances
in the Antarctic environment. These types of sites are in situ
monuments to human courage, ingenuity and perseverance on a par
with NASA’s exploration of space. They require careful management
and protection following the same principles as historic sites within
the United States and in other nations. |