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In the extraordinary weather conditions of the austral summer of 2023, fossil mosses thawed out from under the Bellingshausen Ice Dome, King George Island, Southern Shetland Archipelago of maritime Antarctica. At the end of the austral summer, we directly measured greenhouse gas fluxes (CH 4 and CO 2) from the surface of fossil mosses. We showed that fossil mosses were strong emitters of CH 4 and weak emitters of CO 2. The real-time measured CH 4 emissions reached 0.173 μmol m−2 s−1, which is comparable to CH 4 efflux in water bodies or wet tundra in the Arctic. [Display omitted] • Fossil mosses appear from the retreated Antarctic glacier. • Glacier ice in the upper parts of the Bellingshausen Ice Dome emits CH 4 and CO 2. • Fossil mosses thawed out from the retreated Antarctic glacier are the source of CH 4 and CO 2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]