Ice wasn’t always a household staple—it was once a rare luxury reserved for emperors and elites. Ancient civilizations like the Chinese, Egyptians, and Persians developed ingenious methods to harvest and store ice, from cutting frozen stream tops to building underground domes called Yakhchāls that preserved ice through hot summers.

Ice wasn’t always a household staple—it was once a rare luxury reserved for emperors and elites. Ancient civilizations like the Chinese, Egyptians, and Persians developed ingenious methods to harvest and store ice, from cutting frozen stream tops to building underground domes called Yakhchāls that preserved ice through hot summers.

Check out this CNN video reporting on scientist who found ice that is appx 1.5 million years old! How COOOL is that?! It was uncovered in Antartica, and they report it to be some of the oldest ice on record. Scientists hope analyzing the ice will unlock amazing secrets about our climate which may help us make future projections.