Such a dramatic and even romantic reconstruction was simple to communicate and visualize. Even after careful excavations in , the complete crime scene findspot was not reconstructed. After 20 years, a detailed topographic map of more than artifacts found at the site and the analysis of their distribution with computer-aided simulations revealed that body and objects had moved downslope with the ice flow, but originally came from a spot measuring about 2 x 1 meters a little more than 6 feet x 3 feet.
In , a study was published suggesting that the mummy might owe its exceptional preservation to a proper burial and the equipment might not be a mountain survival kit, but rather what was needed for a yet more arduous trip—the voyage to the otherworld. These findings paved the way for a comprehensive alternative interpretation. This interpretation accounts for many anomalies, such as the unexplained mode of preservation of the body, unfinished arrows, shoes unsuitable for climbing, and the cumbersome equipment he supposedly carried.
Almost universal agreement indicates that the mummy is not an artifact of human action, like Egyptian Dynastic mummies. The mummy is much better preserved than more recent bodies found in similar glaciers, underscoring its importance. Aeolian desiccation may be due to natural or intentional processes. To keep him publicly viewable while minimizing risk of damage and decay is a demanding and costly challenge. Healed injuries, such as a hand dagger wound and the fatal arrow shot, possibly coupled with a blow to the head, suggest regular warfare and imply the use of different weapons.
Daily village life is suggested by ingested cereals, possible cheese residues, and pottery grains mixed in the food, as well as by goat and cattle skin in the associated garments.
However, the last meat he ate came from hunted deer and ibex, wild animals that had contributed to other parts of his dress. He also wore a cap likely made of bearskin. The stone and copper components of these objects precisely match those found in the contemporary graves of the floodplain, but most striking are the preserved, highly refined garments. The care with which various animal skins of contrasting colors were selected and matched and the elaboration and coordination of the attire point to a complex encoding of role and personal identity.
Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. Share Flipboard Email. Jennifer Rosenberg. History Expert. Jennifer Rosenberg is a historian and writer who specializes in 20th-century history. Updated January 04, Featured Video. Cite this Article Format. Rosenberg, Jennifer.
Otzi the Iceman. Copper Facts: Chemical and Physical Properties. See the Important Neolithic Sites in Europe. Inventions and Discoveries of Ancient Greek Scientists. Heinrich Schliemann and the Discovery of Troy. His 61 tattoos map onto the places where his bones and joints show wear and tear as well as onto modern acupuncture points. He was genetically predisposed to arteriosclerosis, and a CT scan confirms that his is the oldest known case of heart disease in the world.
His maternal genetic heritage no longer exists in modern populations, but his paternal line lives on in groups found on Mediterranean islands, especially Sardinia. His leggings and coats—one lighter, one heavier—were pieced together from the hides of local sheep and goats. His shoes were stuffed with wild grass and laced with auroch leather. His fur hat was from a brown bear. His flint dagger was sharpened with a tool fashioned from lime tree wood and a fire-hardened antler tip. Secured to a yew handle with cow leather and birch tar, the blade was cast from a mold and is It was an extraordinarily wealthy item for the time, and its discovery pushed back the beginning of the European Copper Age by a thousand years.
It took researchers 18 years to identify his stomach—via a CT scan—because the organ had shifted under his ribs to where his lower lungs are located. It was an active defensive wound, meaning he likely tried to grab the blade. That wound was still healing when he was attacked again with an arrow that hit an artery in his back left shoulder. The Iceman also had substantial brain hemorrhaging, but experts disagree about its cause.
Did someone finish him off with a blow to the head? Did he fall and hit his head on a rock? One theory posits that 3.
But Peschel says it had to have been the frigid temperatures of the high mountain pass that preserved the Iceman, because his brain, which would usually liquify along with other organs a few days after death, froze quickly, preserving it in desiccated form. In fact, archaeologists were able to reconstruct the iceman's wardrobe , which consisted of a cloak, leggings, a belt, a loincloth, a bearskin cap and even shoes. The latter were made out of deer hide stretched on a string netting and were insulated with grass.
Archaeologists also found a leather pouch containing a tinder fungus, a scraper, a boring tool, a bone awl and a flint flake. Unlike modern tattoos, these were not made with a needle; instead, fine incisions were made on his skin, and the resulting wound was filled with charcoal. Researchers do not think the tattoos were decorative; rather, they might have served a little-understood therapeutic or medical purpose, perhaps a form of primitive acupuncture.
Researchers speculated as to whether he had fallen into a crevasse, died of exposure to the elements or had simply lost his footing on the treacherous ice and tumbled to his death. The first injury consisted of a flint arrowhead embedded in his left shoulder, a detail that was picked up during an X-ray originally conducted in , as reported by Scientific American. The second injury was a severe head wound, possibly from a blunt object. At first, researchers debated which injury might have caused his death.
But a study published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface revealed that the arrow was the main cause of death. It's possible that he suffered the head wound at the same time as the arrow wound or afterward, Live Science previously reported.
Why he was killed, however, remains a mystery. The mummy provides a window into the life and times of an individual who lived over 5, years ago — a man who lived in a world far removed from our modern era of digital communications, space travel and sophisticated technologies of all kinds.
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