Take a Peek at the Piece of American History Hiding in Antarctica

Antarctica is known for its bitter cold, penguins and... hidden bits of American history?

Reddit user espionage101 shared photos received from a friend working in Antarctica who had discovered an "American capsule" amid the rocks and ice.

Image via imgur

"My mates an Aussie, he's been down there working at casey station for 10 months out of a 12 month contract," espionage101 explained.

Image via imgur

Inside the capsule, espionage101's friend found a U.S. claim to Antarctic land, signed by Navy Lt. Commander Charles Browning and dated January 14, 1948.

Image via imgur

Also included was an American flag decked out with 48 stars instead of the current 50.

Image via imgur

It seems likely the capsule is related to Operation Highjump, a U.S. Navy expedition around the Antarctic following World War II.

Espionage101 said his friend likely didn't profit from his find.

"From what I know, he's put everything back where he found it and I doubt he'd be looking to profit from anything," espioange101 wrote.

As it turned out, espionage101's friend was not the first Aussie to dig up the capsule; the Australian base at Casey Station keeps the original American claim to the land, while the laminated copy espionage101's friend pulled out of the capsule is a replacement left there as an historical record, the Reddit user said.

It may not have been a groundbreaking discovery, but it still provided an authentic glimpse into the past — which is exactly why the pictures were posted online in the first place.

"The only reason I even posted [the pictures] was because I remembered a ["Today I Learned" post], last week I think it was, where it was stated that the American flag only had 48 stars up until 1960," espionage101 wrote. "So when I seen this photo I counted the stars and seen there was only 48, huffed to myself and thought 'd*** straight I can [R]eddit.'"

The original picture of the grinning Australian holding a piece of Antarctic American history had been up-voted more than 4,000 times as of Monday evening.

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Follow Zach Noble (@thezachnoble) on Twitter