Contrary to the opinion of early explorers who saw arctic peoples as isolated survivors of Ice Age cultures, research shows that these groups have in fact maintained close contacts with each other and with peoples to the south, and participated in many of the world's technological and social advances. Improvements in hunting technology, metallurgy and animal domestication pioneered in southern regions quickly became part of northern life, just as northern inventions like kayaks and snow goggles became adopted widely in the south.