Researchers have found a physical example of moments literally stuck in time, uncovering photo negatives after they spent 100 years buried in Antarctic ice.
According to CNN, the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust were searching for remains of Capt. Robert Falcon Scott's 1912 expedition. The trek was aimed at making Scott the first man to reach the South Pole, but was considered a failure after many members, including its leader, died on the trip back. Scott also arrived only to find Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen had arrived at the South Pole approximately 33 days earlier.
CLICK HERE to see the negatives and their images, via the Antarctic Heritage Trust's website.
The cellulose nitrate negatives were not from that expedition, but from Ernest Shackleton's Ross Sea Party in 1914-1917. That trek was also considered a failure, as the members had to take refuge in Scott's hut as their vessel was lost to the sea.
The trust said the photo negatives were found in the hut's darkroom, which belonged to Scott's photographer Herbert Ponting. Found together in a box, the negatives were later separated into 22 images at a lab in New Zealand.
"It's an exciting find and we are delighted to see them exposed after a century," Nigel Watson, the Antarctic Heritage Trust's executive director, said in a statement. "It's testament to the dedication and precision of our conservation teams' efforts to save Scott's Cape Evans hut."
According to the Guardian Express, the negatives show a new view of Ross Island and two images of Alexander Stevenson, the Shackelton expedition's main scientist, main evidence for the sources of the photographs.
The damage done to the photos was surprisingly minimal, except along their borders. Those who worked to restore the images were mostly successful in developing the images.
The expedition's photographer was Arnold Patrick Smith, but there is no way to definitively verify it was he who took all of the photos. Smith was among three members who died while awaiting rescue, which did eventually come.
(The author of this article edited an erroneous statement identifying Robert Falcon Scott as the first man to arrive at the South Pole. The edit names Roald Amundsen as the rightful first man to reach the South Pole).