[ WP ] Global warming is melting the ice caps , revealing a previously hidden archaeological evidence of ancient motor vehicles and industrialized society .

Of course, everyone thought it was some sort of elaborate hoax at first, save for the most eccentric of conspiracy theorists. But over time, it became increasingly obvious that this was either the most elaborate prank in human history or there was something far more sinister going on beneath the ice. 
 
 The discoveries swiftly grew from estranged piles of nuts and bolts and engine parts from outdated cars to nearly fully intact farm equipment and even what appeared to be parts of sky-scrapers, all preserved quite pristinely save for the hardened sheets of millennia-old ice. News coverage around the world quickly shifted from political upheavals in the Middle-East and mindless celebrity trivia to nearly 24/7 coverage of the `` Glacier Race''. Quite akin to the Space Race of decades past, this revolutionary discovery had sparked a new era of innovation and scientific study that boosted the morale of citizens the world-over and helping to get the global economy out of its rut. 
 
 However, as the years went by, that driving spark of curiosity was soon twisted into a smoldering morbidity at the discoveries being made. It was 2023 when the first body was discovered. With a sinew-laden arm and bony fingers extended as though reaching for help, a well-preserved human corpse was discovered beneath the newly-dubbed Zone 4 of the arctic layer. The first three Zones, each taking up several miles of glacier, had only contained ancient machinery and old-fashioned technology, but as the ice melted and humanity delved, a grim portrait of our evolutionary line was painted before our eyes. Contained perfectly within the sapphire-blue depths was a makeshift fossil record of human-kind. The global uproar was too large to be contained or covered up, and mankind was forced to face new questions about its existence that it had n't encountered before. Had others existed before them? What did this mean about Earth's past? What did it mean for humanity's future? 
 
 All of this was for naught, however, when the rising ocean levels and increasing global temperature took its miserable toll upon the surviving ten countries. The project was abandoned, and we never got to unveil the deepest layers of ice, what laid below Zone 4, and humanity focused solely upon its survival. It was the year 2135 when the toxic fumes that had taken the place of the ozone layer finally suffocated its last victim. The planet by this point was an utterly barren, frozen wasteland, much of the surface having been flooded and irradiated beyond livable conditions. At least, for any life such as us, who sought answers inside a tomb of the past rather than innovation for the future. 
 
 Cycle: Restart.
