Trying to recall a sci-fi book I read in the '70s

Question

When I was a teen, in the '70s, I recall reading a sci-fi book about an arctic discovery. I seem to recall that explorers had found the remnants of an ancient civilization, and I think had found one of the ancient people frozen. I think there may have been a sort of pyramid on the cover of the book. Also I recall that the ancient civilization had advanced technology, and there was a gloved weapon that I seem to remember you fired by raising one of your fingers. I have become nostalgic and would love to reread this and other books I read during my youth.

Thanks.

Answer 1

Smells furiously like this great book by René Barjavel : “la Nuit des temps”. It is the story of Éléa and Païkan, found in the ice, after 900000 years, by scientists, in Antarctica. It is a very beautiful story of science and love. It is simply… the best novel of all times.

http://barjaweb.free.fr/SITE/ecrits/Ndt/nuit.php

But the ancient people are not found in a pyramid, they are found in an egg. Maybe you are mixing memories.

Cheers,

Nicolas

Answer 2

Might it be H.P. Lovecraft's "At The Mountains of Madness"? It seems to share many elements, including an (ant)arctic expedition, remnants of an ancient civilizations in the ice, and ancient creatures reawoken.

I don't recall anything about ancient weapons, though I read it over a decade ago. and the Wiki recap doesn't mention it either. Also, you might have recalled elements of horror and losing one's sanity, two popular elements in Lovecraft's oeuvre.

Answer 3

Perhaps "The Lost Ones" by Ian Cameron? It was from 1970, and later made into a Disney movie in the mid 70s called "Island at the Top of the World". The cover has a pyramid shaped iceberg with a whale in it.

http://www.amazon.com/The-lost-ones-Avon-Cameron/dp/B0007EI920.

Basic plot summary:

In London in the year 1907, a British aristocrat named Sir Anthony Ross (Donald Sinden) hastily arranges an expedition to the Arctic to search for his lost son Donald. Donald had become lost on a whaling expedition to find the fabled island where whales go to die.

Sir Anthony employs the talents of a Scandinavian-American archaeologist Professor Ivarsson (David Hartman) and Captain Brieux (Jacques Marin), a French inventor/aeronaut who pilots the expedition in a French dirigible named the Hyperion, (which, naturally, Captain Brieux invented). Upon reaching the Arctic, they meet Oomiak, a comically cowardly/brave Eskimo friend of Donald's, and trick him into helping them join in the search.

Ultimately, the expedition becomes (temporarily) separated from Captain Brieux, and discovers an uncharted island named Astragard, occupied by a lost civilization of Vikings, cut off from the rest of the world for centuries. The Vikings capture Sir Anthony and Ivarsson, but Oomiak escapes. Shortly thereafter they find Donald, but are nearly put to death by the fanatic Godi (pronounced "Go-dah"), a sort-of Lawspeaker/Soothsayer authority figure. The three men (Sir Anthony, Ivarsson and Donald) are saved from being burned alive by a brave and beautiful Viking girl named Freya, with whom Donald is deeply and mutually in love. They escape, and are rejoined by Oomiak and eventually find the Whales Graveyard, but are attacked by Killer Whales. Here they are saved by the sudden reappearance of Captain Brieux, but they are still being pursued by the angry Godi and his rather unwilling warriors. Finally, the Godi is killed by the explosion when he shoots a fiery arrow at the Hyperion, but the Vikings will not let the expedition return to their world unless one of them remains behind as a hostage. Ivarsson however, willingly volunteers to stay, because this is a chance to live history. Ivarsson also points out that if someday Mankind is ever foolish enough to destroy itself, places like Astragard may become humanity's final refuge. And so, Sir Anthony, Donald, Freya, Captain Brieux and Oomiak, are allowed to depart in peace, promising not to tell the Outside World about Astragard.