A study of the isotopic and gas composition of the basal silty ice recovered by the Greenland Ice Core Project (GRIP) core indicates that local ice formed in the absence of the Greenland Ice Sheet is still preserved at Summit. Such ice developed most probably within a peat deposit in a permafrost environment. This local ice was subsequently intimately mixed with glacier ice from an advancing ice sheet progressing on the site. This is in agreement with the “highland origin and windward growth” hypothesis for ice sheet development, not for an in situ or regional growth from snowbanks. The basal ice from the GRIP core possibly dates back to the original buildup of the Greenland Ice Sheet 2.4 million years ago.