(Museum Bélesta, Ariège, France)
In 1991, a corpse was found frozen in a glacier in the Italian Alps near the Austrian border. I remember the news because when I saw the map I realized that I had skied near there back in the 1970 and the corpse was there then too. In fact, it was there 5,300 years before that.
It turned out to be the most ancient human being ever found completely intact.
Ötzi the Iceman, as he became known (AKA Similaun Man, and Man from Hauslabjoch), was spotted by two German tourists. At first, it was thought to be a modern corpse and so it was crudely removed from the glacier by the Austrian authorities using a small jackhammer. At a morgue in Innsbruck, its true age was determined and the archaeology began.
I find the story of this well-preserved natural mummy of a man who lived about 5,300 years ago to be so fascinating. It became very much a detective story. And it did end up being a murder.
His nickname comes from the Ötztal (Ötz valley), the Italian Alps in which he was discovered. He is Europe’s oldest natural human mummy and a Copper Age European. He has been examined, measured, X-rayed, CAT scanned, and dated and his tissues and intestinal contents have been examined microscopically.
Ötzi was about 1.65 metres (5′ 5″) tall and weighed about 50 kilograms (110 lb.) and was about 45 years of age at his death. By examining the proportions of his tibia, femur and pelvis, it was determined that his lifestyle included long walks over hilly terrain. Perhaps, he was a high-altitude shepherd.
He had a copper axe with a yew handle, a flint-bladed knife with an ash handle and a quiver of 14 arrows with viburnum and dogwood shafts.
His hair was cut. He had several tattoos. He wore a fur robe, whipstitched in a mosaic pattern, a woven grass cape, and size 6 shoes.
He carried several mushrooms that were known to fight infections. But the mushrooms didn’t do him much good because he had an arrowhead in his back. He was apparently murdered.
I enjoy watching the current TV show Bones
Looking at the pollen, and dust grains on him and the composition of his tooth enamel told them that he spent his childhood near the present village of Feldthurns and later went to live in valleys about 50 kilometers further north.
Analysis of his intestinal contents showed two meals of chamois (a goat-like animal) and red deer meat eaten with grain as well as roots and fruits. The grain from both meals was a highly processed wheat bran, so it was possibly eaten in the form of bread. Pollen in the first meal was very well preserved, indicating that it had been fresh at the time of Ötzi’s death, which places the event in the spring.
High levels of both copper and arsenic were found in Ötzi’s hair. He carried a a 99.7% pure copper axe. Ötzi was probably involved in some copper smelting. Ötzi lived 5,300 years ago, and humans were not thought to have discovered copper for another 1,000 years, forcing archaeologists to re-date the Copper Age.
X-rays and a CT scan showed that an arrowhead hit his left shoulder (matching a tear on his coat) but the arrow’s shaft had been removed before his death. He also had bruises and cuts to the hands, wrists, and chest.
There was cerebral trauma indicative of a blow to the head and that most likely caused his death. Okay, but was it from a fall, or from being struck with a rock by another person?
DNA analysis found traces of blood from four other people – on his knife, two people on the same arrowhead, and a fourth from his coat.
Did Ötzi kill two people with the same arrow after having retrieved it both times? Did he carry another bleeding body? Were those deaths avenged with the arrow in Ötzi? Before his death and rigor mortis set in, who turned the Iceman onto his stomach to remove the arrow shaft?
There are a number of theories and no one is absolutely sure of the full story. It is still a mystery in some ways.
It is now believed that he died around 3,300 BCE. Forensic examinations indicate that he likely died from an arrow wound to the shoulder, which severed a major artery. This injury would have been fatal, and Ötzi likely died shortly after being wounded. His other injuries suggest that he may have been involved in a conflict or altercation before his death.
Ötzi’s body also showed signs of heart disease, including three cardiac calcifications but that didn’t kill him. The arrow was severe and he probably died from blood loss.
I think Ötzi was on the run. The effort that must have been required to chase Ötzi into those mountains and shoot him with an arrow at a distance, amid blowing snow, suggests that he must have committed some serious offense.
READ MORE
Iceman: Uncovering the Life and Times of a Prehistoric Man Found in an Alpine Glacier
NOTE This ancient Iceman should not be confused with a modern-day “Iceman”
who I have also written about on this site.
Weekends in Paradelle 