Ötzi the Iceman
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- "Ötzi" redirects here. For the Austrian singer and entertainer, see DJ Ötzi.
Ötzi the Iceman (also spelled Oetzi), Frozen Fritz, and Similaun Man are modern nicknames of a well-preserved natural mummy of a man from about 3300 BC <ref>http://www.wilderdom.com/evolution/OtziIcemanAlpsPictures.htm</ref>, found in 1991 in a glacier of the Ötztal Alps, near the border between Austria and Italy. The nickname comes from Ötztal, the region in which he was discovered. He is Europe's oldest natural human mummy, and has offered an unprecedented view on the Chalcolithic (Copper-stone Age) Europeans.
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[edit] Discovery
Ötzi was found by two German tourists, Helmut and Erika Simon, on September 19, 1991. The body was at first thought to be a modern corpse, like several others which had been recently found in the region. It was roughly recovered by the Austrian authorities and taken to Innsbruck, where its true age was finally discovered. Subsequent surveys showed in October 1991 that the body had been located 92,56 meters inside Italian territory ().<ref name=map>Val Senales - Schnalstal, Carta Topografica per Escursionisti 1:25.000, Tabacco, 1996. It is a topographic map</ref> It is available to be seen since 1998 at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, Italy.
[edit] Speculations about the discovery
Since the discovery of Ötzi, there have been at least two other persons claiming that they discovered Ötzi first. They are:
- Magdalena Mohar Jarc Slovenian actress. She claims that she discovered the corpse first, and shortly after she returned to an alpine house, and asked Helmut Simon to take the pictures of Ötzi. The case is scheduled to go an Italian court in 2006. Reinhold Messner will stand up as a witness for her.
- Sandra Nemeth from Switzerland is the second person who is arguing with the Simons. She is claiming that she found the corpse before them and that she spit on Ötzi to make sure that her DNA would be found on the body later. No trace of her DNA was ever discovered.
[edit] Scientific analysis of Ötzi
The body has been extensively examined, measured, x-rayed, and dated. Tissues and gut contents were examined microscopically, as was the pollen found on his gear.
[edit] The body
At the time of his death, Ötzi was approximately 165 cm (5'3") tall, 40 to 53 years old by current estimates. Because the body was covered in ice shortly after his death it only partially deteriorated. Analysis of pollen and dust grains and the isotopic composition of his tooth enamel indicate that he spent his childhood near the present village of Feldthurns, north of Bozen, but later went to live in valleys about 50 km further north. Analysis by Franco Rollo's group at the University of Camerino has shown that Otzi's mitochondrial DNA belongs to the K1 subcluster of the mitochondrial haplogroup K, but that it cannot be categorized into any of the three modern branches of that subcluster.
Analysis of Ötzi's intestinal contents showed two meals (the last one about eight hours before his death), one of chamois meat, the second of red deer meat, both consumed with some grain as well as some roots and fruits. The grain from both meals was a highly processed einkorn wheat bran, quite possibly eaten in the form of bread. There were also a few kernels of sloes (small plum-like fruits of the blackthorn tree).
Pollen in the first meal showed that it had been consumed in a mid-altitude conifer forest, and other pollens indicated the presence of wheat and legumes, which may have been domesticated crops. Also, pollen grains of hop-hornbeam were discovered. The pollen was very well preserved with even the cells inside still intact, indicating that it had been fresh (few hours old) at the time of Ötzi's death. This find places the event in the spring. Interestingly, einkorn wheat is harvested in the late summer, and sloes in the autumn; these must have been stored since the year before.
High levels of both copper particles and arsenic were found in Ötzi's hair. This, along with Ötzi's copper axe which is 99.7% pure copper, has led scientists to speculate that Ötzi was involved in copper smelting.[1]
[edit] Health
Ötzi seems to have suffered from osteoarthrosis. He also apparently had whipworm (Trichuris trichiura), an intestinal parasite.
[edit] Tattoos
He had approximately 57 tattoos. These consisted of simple dots and lines.
[edit] Clothes and shoes
Ötzi's clothes, including a woven grass cloak and leather vest and shoes, were quite sophisticated. The shoes were waterproof and wide, seemingly designed for walking across the snow; they were constructed using bearskin for the soles, deer hide for top panels, and a netting made of tree bark. Soft grass went around the foot and in the shoe and functioned like warm socks.
The shoes have since been reproduced by experts and found to constitute such excellent footwear that there are plans for commercial production [2]. However, a more recent theory by British archaeologist Jacqui Wood says that Ötzi's "shoes" were actually the upper part of snowshoes. According to this theory, the item currently interpreted as part of a backpack is actually the wood frame and netting of one snowshoe and animal hide to cover the torso.
[edit] Other Equipment
Other items found with the Iceman were a copper axe with a yew handle, a flint knife with an ash handle, a quiver full of arrows with viburnum and dogwood shafts and flint heads (two arrows were finished, six were not), and an unfinished yew longbow that was six feet (two metres) tall. Also found were berries, a bucket and a knife.
Among Ötzi's possessions were two species of polypore mushrooms with leather strings through them. One of these (the birch fungus) is known to have antibacterial properties, and was likely used for medical purposes. The other was a type of tinder fungus, included with part of what appeared to be a complex firestarting kit. The kit featured pieces of over a dozen different plants, in addition to flint and pyrite for creating sparks.
[edit] Cause of death
[edit] An ancient crime?
A CAT scan revealed that Ötzi had what appeared to be an arrowhead lodged in one shoulder when he died, matching a small tear on his coat. The arrow shaft had been removed, apparently by a companion. He also had bruises and cuts on his hands, wrists, and chest. DNA analysis revealed traces of blood from four other people on his gear: one from his knife, two from the same arrowhead, and a fourth from his coat.
[edit] Ritual sacrifice
Before the latest evidence, it was speculated that Ötzi had been a victim of a ritual sacrifice, perhaps for being a chieftain. This explanation may have been inspired by theories previously advanced for the 1st millennium BC bodies recovered from peat bogs, such as the Tollund Man and the Lindow Man.
[edit] Weather
It has also been hypothesised that Ötzi was the victim of a storm caused by the Priora oscillation, a sudden cooling of the Earth's environment, as indicated by the surge of the nearby Priora Glacier.
[edit] Other frozen corpses
In 2004, frozen bodies of three Austro-Hungarian soldiers killed during the Battle of San Matteo (1918) were found. One body was sent to a museum in the hope that research on how the environment affected its preservation will help to find out about Ötzi's past and future evolution.
In North America, the first "Iceman" was discovered in 1999 in the Samuel Glacier, British Columbia. He was named Kwäday Dän Ts’ínchi (Long Ago Person Found; for short: KDT) by the local First Nation tribes. Not nearly as old as Ötzi, he died about 550 years ago.
[edit] Notes
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[edit] References
- "Infertility link in iceman's DNA". (Feb. 3, 2006). BBC.
[edit] External links
- Photo of Ötzi at Mesa Community College, Arizona.
- South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology - official website about Ötzi
- BBC programme summary and other useful links
- PBS web site for their Otzi program
- Ötzi links (German/Italian/English)
- Plants and the Iceman, Ötzi's Last Journey
- All about Ötzi
- Theory: Iceman Oetzi Wore High-Tech Shoes. By Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News.
- Detailed Radiological Studies
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