WAKEHAM BAY, Canada---A team of explorers studying glacial formations stumbled upon one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the new millenium -- a ninth-century Viking warrior encased in a thick wall of ice and showing no visible sign of deomposition! More incredibly still, researchers believe it may be possible to revive him!

"What we are about to attempt has never been tried before, but we firmly believe that with the technology available today, it will be possible to bring this man back to life with his mental faculties fully intact," declares lead scientist Dr. Nigel Hamm.

"The unique manner in which this Viking sailor has been preserved affords us an opportunity to conduct an extraordinary scientific experiment."

The frozen Norseman, who appears to have been about 25 years old when he died, was discovered inside a glacial cavern, 22 feet below the Earth's surface.

"I am still in a daze over this very amazing find," declares Dr. Hamm, head of a London-based geological society stationed in Greenland that specializes in Arctic study. "He's probably been there for the better part of 1,200 years, but looks like he could have died 20 minutes ago."

The bearded warrior is dressed appropriately for the frigid climate, wearing clothes and boots fashioned from thick fur.

He also sports a typical Viking horned cap and leather breast plate. A leather pouch strapped around his waist bulges outward suggesting it is full.

"At first we believed that it contained good-luck trinkets from home or perhaps some caribou jerky for the journey ahead," Dr. Hamm says. "But after consulting experts in Viking lore, we now believe that the man was probably carrying what people of his land believed were magic charms that could keep death at bay."

"Incredibly, they seem to have worked, because this Viking's in top-top shape. "It's uncanny -- it's like he's more in a state of suspended animation than truly dead."

It's believed that the short, stocky Norseman was a member of a Viking expedition who'd been sent from the ship on a hunting mission. "Probably a snow bridge he was walking on gave way and he tumbled through a crevasse into the cavern," the researcher says.

Viking artifacts have been found throughout Northern and Eastern Canada over the years. It is believed the Vikings used the frozen north as a winter base.

The Viking was discovered by the team's one female member, Dr. Daphne Meadows, who was conducting chemical tests in the cave.

"I was wandering through the cave, and I got separated from the other members of the team," recalls Dr. Meadows. "I had the strangest feeling that I was being watched as I was scraping samples off the cavern wall -- and when I looked behind me, there he was."

Dr. Meadows' screams alerted the rest of the team, who rushed to her aid. "We were worried that Dr. Meadows and had been hurt," explains Dr. Hamm. "You can imagine our relief when we saw that not only was she healthy, but she had made an amazing discovery, as well."

Plans are underway for the Viking, still encased in a block of ice, to be transported to London, where the attempt to revive him will be conducted at a cryonics research center in two weeks.

There, doctors say, he will be gradually thawed out over a period of hours and then resuscitated using a high-tech version of the defribrillator employed in hospital emergency rooms to jump-start hearts.

If the experiment suceeds, experts say there's no limit to what we might learn from speaking to a genuine Viking who lived centuries ago.

"We'll have to rewrite the history of the Nordic explorers," says Dr. Hamm.

"What's more, he may be able to tell us what he knows about the ancient Norse magic that helped to preserve him. It could revolutionize medicine as we know it."