Ötzi

Ötzi the Iceman
File:OetzitheIceman02.jpg
Born	fl. c.3300 BC near the present village of Feldthurns (Velturno), north of Bolzano, Italy
Died	fl. c.3300 BC (age about 45) Schnalstal glacier, Ötztal Alps, near Hauslabjoch on the border between Austria and Italy
Cause of death	Victim of a crime or ritual sacrifice
Other names	Oetzi; Frozen Fritz; Similaun Man
Known for	Oldest natural mummy of a Chalcolithic (Copper Age) European man
Height	165 cm (5 ft 5 in)
Website	South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology

"Ötzi" redirects here. For the Austrian singer and entertainer, see DJ Ötzi.

the Iceman (also spelled Oetzi) (pronounced [ˈøːtsiː], ur'-tsee), Frozen Fritz, and Similaun Man are modern nicknames of a well-preserved natural mummy of a man from about 3300 BC (53 centuries ago), found in 1991 in the Schnalstal glacier in the Ötztal Alps, near Hauslabjoch on 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 of Chalcolithic (Copper Age) Europeans.

Discovery

Ötzi the Iceman while still frozen in the glacier, photographed by Helmut Simon upon the discovery of the body in September 1991.

File:OetzitheIceman-glacier-199109b.jpg

Another early photograph of the body prior to its removal from the ice.

Ötzi was found by two German tourists from Nuremberg, 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. Lying on its front and frozen in ice below the torso, it was crudely removed from the glacier by the Austrian authorities using a small jackhammer (which punctured the hip of the body) and ice-axes using non-archaeological methods. In addition, before the body was removed from the ice, people were allowed to see it, and some took portions of the clothing and tools as souvenirs. The body was then taken to a morgue in Innsbruck, where its true age was subsequently ascertained. However, during a press conference that was held, people were allowed to take photographs and touch the body. As a result of this, fungus began to grow on the Iceman's skin.

Subsequent surveys in October 1991 showed that the body had been located 92.56 meters inside Italian territory (46°46′44″N 10°50′23″E). Since 1998 it has been on display at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, Italy.

Disputes over the discovery

In 2003, the Simons filed a lawsuit which asked a court in Bolzano, Italy, to recognize their role in Ötzi's discovery and declare them his "official discoverers". Under Italian law, this would entitle them to a finders' fee of 25% of the value of the discovered item from the authorities. In November 2003, the court declared in the Simons favor, and at the end of December 2003, the Simons announced that they were seeking US$300,000 as their fee.

Provincial government officials decided to appeal. In 2004, Helmut Simon died. In June 2006, the appeals court affirmed that the Simons had indeed discovered the Iceman and were therefore entitled to a finder's fee. It also ruled that the provincial government had to pay the Simons' legal fees. After this ruling, Mrs. Erika Simon reduced her claim to €150,000. The provincial government's response was that the expenses it had incurred to establish a museum and the costs of preserving the Iceman should be considered in determining the finder's fee. It insisted it would pay no more than €50,000. In September 2006, the authorities appealed the case to Italy's highest court, the Court of Cassation.

Since the discovery of Ötzi in 1991 and the Simons' lawsuit, two other people have come forward to claim that they were part of the same mountaineering party that came across Ötzi and that they discovered the body first. They are:

• Magdalena Mohar Jarc, a Slovenian actress, who alleged that she discovered the corpse first, and shortly after returning to an alpine house, asked Helmut Simon to take photographs of Ötzi. Mountaineer and explorer Reinhold Messner is apparently appearing as a witness for her.
• Sandra Nemeth, from Switzerland, who contended that she found the corpse before Helmut and Erika Simon, and that she spat on Ötzi to make sure that her DNA would be found on the body later. She has asked for a DNA test on the remains, but experts believe that there is little chance of finding any trace.

The rival claims are now being heard by a court in Bolzano, Italy. The legal case has angered Mrs. Simon, who alleges that neither woman was present on the mountain that day. In 2005, Mrs. Simon's lawyer said: "Mrs. Simon is very upset by all this and by the fact that these two new claimants have decided to appear 14 years after Ötzi was found."

Scientific analyses of Ötzi

The body has been extensively examined, measured, X-rayed, and dated. Tissues and intestinal contents were examined microscopically, as were the items he was found with.

The body

File:OetzitheIceman.jpg

Ötzi the Iceman, now housed at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, Italy.

By current estimates, at the time of his death, Ötzi was approximately 165 cm (5 ft. 5 in.) tall, weighed about 38 kg (84 lbs., or 6 st.), and was about 46 years of age. 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 (Velturno), north of Bolzano, 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 other of red deer meat. Both were eaten 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). Other processes were used to examine his diet. Hair takes months to grow, and by studying trace elements in it a picture of his changing diet is able to be identified.

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 (a few hours old) at the time of Ötzi's death, which 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.

By examining the proportions of Ötzi's tibia, femur and pelvis, Christopher Ruff has determined that Ötzi's lifestyle included long walks over hilly terrain. This degree of mobility is not characteristic of other Copper Age Europeans. Ruff proposes that this may indicate Ötzi was a high-altitude shepherd.

Health

He apparently had whipworm (Trichuris trichiura), an intestinal parasite. During CT scans, it was observed that three or four of his right ribs had been squashed when he had been lying face down after death, or where the ice had crushed his body. Also, it was found that his epidermis, the outer skin layer, was missing.

Tattoos

He had approximately 57 carbon tattoos consisting of simple dots and lines on his lower spine, behind his left knee, and on his right ankle. Using X-rays, it was determined that the Iceman may have had arthritis in these joints. Some scientists suggest that the designs might have been used to mark the passage from youth to manhood, or it has been speculated that they may be related to acupuncture.

Clothes and shoes

File:OetzitheIceman-tools.jpg

Ötzi with some of the equipment found with him.

File:OetzitheIceman-flintknife.jpg

Ötzi's flint knife and its sheath.

Ötzi's clothes were quite sophisticated. He wore a cloak made of woven grass and a vest, a belt, a pair of leggings, a loincloth and shoes, all made of leather. He also wore a bearskin cap with a leather chin strap. 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 vest, belt, leggings, and loincloth were constructed of vertical strips of leather sewn together with sinew.His belt had a pouch sewn to it that contained a cache of useful items: a scraper, drill, flint flake, bone arrow, and a dried fungus to be used as tinder.

The shoes have since been reproduced by experts, and found to constitute such excellent footwear that there are plans for commercial production. 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.

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 of 14 bone-tipped arrows with viburnum and dogwood shafts and flint heads (two arrows were finished, twelve were not), and an unfinished yew longbow that was 3 feet 2 inches (one metre) tall. Also found were berries, two birch bark baskets.

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 medicinal 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.

Cause of death

A CT 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. He had a deep wound on the base of his thumb that cut down to the bone. An absence of scar tissue indicates that the injury occurred shortly before his death. He also had bruises and cuts on his hands, wrists, and chest. Just recently, scientists have found out that Ötzi didn't die from the blood loss of the arrow wound, but that this loss of blood caused loss of consciousness. He then fell to the ground and hit his head on a rock. He died from the head wound, not the blood loss. 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.

This may indicate that Ötzi was actually part of an armed raiding party, and had got into a skirmish, perhaps with a neighbouring tribe, and this skirmish had gone badly. It may also indicate that he was ambushed or attacked by a rival tribe's raiding party on his way to deliver he axe.

The Ötzi memorial on the Similaun mountain, where Ötzi the Iceman was found, in the Ötztal Alps.

The biological evidence suggests that he was out of his home territory. The DNA evidence suggests that he was assisted by companions who were also wounded. The repairs he had made to his clothing are very crude compared to the original stitching. The copper axe could not have been made by him alone. It would have required a concerted group tribal effort to mine, smelt and cast the copper axe head. This all shows foresight, planning and preparation on a large scale with a certain goal in mind.

Bizarre posture

Ötzi's bizarre or unnatural posture in death (frozen body, face down, left arm bent across the chest) proves that theory of a solitary death from blood loss, hunger, cold and weakness is untenable. Rather, the iceman died with his killer standing over him (in the effort to pull out the arrow shaft, the aggressor turned over Ötzi onto his stomach before rigor mortis set in).

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 first millennium B.C. bodies recovered from peat bogs, such as the Tollund Man and the Lindow Man.

Weather

It has also been hypothesized 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.

Latest data

On 6 August 2007, The Guardian newspaper [1] reported: "Frank Ruehli, of the University of Zurich, worked with scientists from Bolzano, [...] to construct a three-dimensional image of Otzi using high-resolution computer tomography", which would have been trickier just a few years before.

"Dr Ruehli found that an arrow had torn a hole in an artery beneath Otzi's left collarbone," an injury that would probably have killed him even with today's medicine. The blood loss led to a cardiac arrest. These findings were published online in the Journal of Archaeological Science (15 March 2007).

The iceman's mitochondrial DNA has been analyzed by Franco Rollo and his colleagues, and it was discovered that he had genetic markers associated with reduced fertility, which may conceivably have affected his social acceptance. [2]

On August 30, 2007, Researchers studying Ötzi the Iceman, now believe he died of head trauma, not the wound of an arrow. The researchers presented their findings Monday at the Institute for Mummies and the Iceman at the European Academy in Bolzano. The institute was launched in July to coordinate research into Oetzi, whose remains are housed in a nearby museum.

In a statement, the academy said the findings reopened the debate over Oetzi's death, particularly since they took into account the way his body was found - face down, with his left arm across his chest. The researchers believe he fell backward, but was turned onto his stomach by his attacker, who then pulled out his arrow - leaving the arrowhead imbedded in Oetzi's shoulder.

In a paper published in the archaeological magazine Germania, the researchers said they determined that Oetzi assumed his final position before rigor mortis set in. They also said that based on his good health and the equipment found with him, he belonged to a social class not accustomed to manual labor.

"Ötzi's Curse"

Influenced by the "Curse of the Pharaohs" and the media theme of cursed mummies, claims have been made that Ötzi is cursed. The allegation centers around the deaths of several main people connected to the discovery, recovery and subsequent examination of Ötzi. It is alleged that they have died under mysterious circumstances. These persons include co-discoverer Helmut Simon; and Konrad Spindler, the first examiner of the mummy in Austria at a local morgue in 1991. To date, the deaths of seven people, of which four were the result of some violence in the form of accidents, have been attributed to the alleged curse. However, hundreds of people were involved in the recovery of Ötzi and are still involved in studying the body and the artifacts found with it; thus it may not be surprising that a few of them have died since the mummy's discovery.

Other ancient frozen or naturally-preserved corpses

See also: Mummy (natural mummies)

Frozen corpses

Naturally frozen

• In August 2004, frozen bodies of three Austro-Hungarian soldiers killed during the Battle of San Matteo (1918) were found on the mountain of San Matteo in the Trentino region of Italy. 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 August 1999, three First Nation hunters found the frozen remains of an ancient person at the edge of the Samuel Glacier in the Tatshenshini-Alsek Park, British Columbia, Canada, which is within the traditional territory of the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations. Named Kwäday Dän Ts’ínchi (meaning "Long Ago Person Found", and often abbreviated to KDT), it was determined that he had died about 550 years ago and that his preserved remains were the oldest ever discovered in North America.

• In 1995, the frozen body of a 12- to 14-year-old Inca girl who had died some time between 1440 and 1450 was discovered on Mount Ampato in southern Peru. Known as "Mummy Juanita" ("Momia Juanita" in Spanish) or "The Ice Maiden", some archaeologists believe that she was a human sacrifice to the Inca mountain god Apus.

• In October 1972, eight remarkably-preserved mummies were discovered at an abandoned Inuit settlement called Qilakitsoq, in Greenland. The oldest preserved human remains found in Greenland to date, the "Greenland Mummies" consisted of a six-month old baby, a four-year-old boy, and six women of various ages, who had died about 500 years earlier. Their bodies had been naturally mummified by the sub-zero temperatures and dry winds in the cave in which they were found.

• On 10 November 1644, diarist John Evelyn recorded that when he was at the villa of Prince Ludovisio in Rome there was "a man's body, flesh and all, petrified and even converted to marble, as it was found in the Alps, and sent by the Emperor to one of the Popes; it lay in a chest or coffin lin'd with black velvet, and one of the armes being broken, you may see the perfect bone from the flesh which remains intire." (There was no mention of the body having been frozen, but this might perhaps be inferred from its discovery in the Alps.)

Mummified and frozen

• In the summer of 1993, a team of Russian archaeologists led by Dr. Natalia Polosmak discovered the Siberian Ice Maiden in a sacred area known as the Pastures of Heaven, on the Pontic-Caspian steppe in the Altay Mountains near the Mongolian border. Mummified, then frozen by freak climatic conditions in the fifth century B.C. around 2,400 years ago along with six decorated horses and a symbolic meal for her last journey, she is believed to have been a shaman of the lost Pazyryk culture. Her body was covered with vivid blue tattoos of mythical animal figures. Together with the body of a man nicknamed "Conan" which was subsequently discovered, she provides clues to the role and power of women in the nomadic peoples of ancient Siberia. The Ice Maiden has been a source of controversy, as alleged improper care after her removal from the ice resulted in rapid decay of the body; and since the breakup of the Soviet Union, the Altai Republic has demanded the return of various "stolen" artifacts, including the Ice Maiden, who is currently stored in Novosibirsk in Siberia, Russia.

Corpses preserved by other natural means

• Bog bodies are preserved human bodies found in sphagnum bogs in Northern Europe, Britain and Ireland. Due to the unusual conditions of preservation in bogs, their skin and internal organs are usually well-preserved. A famous case is that of the Haraldskær Woman, who was discovered by labourers in a bog in Jutland, Denmark in 1835. She was erroneously identified as an early medieval Danish queen, and for that reason was placed in a royal sarcophagus at the Saint Nicolai Church, Vejle, where she remains though the identification was subsequently proven to be wrong.

Further reading

Articles

• Dickson, James Holms (2005-06-28). "Plants and the Iceman : Ötzi's Last Journey". Division of Environmental and Evolutionary Biology, Institute of Biomedical and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow. Retrieved 2007-03-17. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Fowler, Brenda (last updated November 2002). "The Iceman's Last Meal". NOVA Online, PBS. Retrieved 2007-03-17. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Hooper, John (2003-08-13). "DNA Detective Uncovers Violence of Bronze Age Ice Mummy's Last Hours". The Guardian. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Irwin, Aisling (1998-10-29). "Ice Age Man's Hair Showed He Was Vegetarian". The Daily Telegraph. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Kennedy, Frances (2001-07-26). "Oetzi the Neolithic Iceman Was Killed by an Arrow, Say Scientists". The Independent. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Macintyre, Ben (2003-11-01). "We Know Oetzi Had Fleas, His Last Supper Was Steak... and He Died 5,300 Years Ago". The Times. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Morelle, Rebecca (2006-02-03). "Infertility Link in Iceman's DNA". BBC News. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Murphy, William A., Jr.; zur Nedden, Dieter; Gostner, Paul; Knapp, Rudolf; Recheis, Wolfgang; Seidler, Horst (2003-01-24), The Iceman : Discovery and Imaging, vol. 226, Oak Brook, Il.: Radiology, pp. 614–629, doi:10.1148/radiol.2263020338, ISSN: 0033-8419 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) (on-line pre-publication version).
• Owen, Richard (2003-10-31). "Iceman Cometh from Italy". The Times. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Seenan, Gerard (1999-07-22). "Oetzi the Iceman Gives Up His Secrets : He Froze to Death 5,000 Years Ago, but Scientists Find He Was Arthritic and Suffered From Diarrhoea". The Guardian. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

Books

In English

• Bortenschlager, Sigmar (2000). The Iceman and His Natural Environment : Palaeobotanical Results. Wien ; New York, N.Y.: Springer. ISBN 3211826602. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Fowler, Brenda (2000). Iceman : Uncovering the Life and Times of a Prehistoric Man Found in an Alpine Glacier. New York, N.Y.: Random House. ISBN 0679431675 (hbk.). {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
• Spindler, Konrad (2001). The Man in the Ice : The Preserved Body of a Neolithic Man Reveals the Secrets of the Stone Age. London: Phoenix. ISBN 0753812606. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

In other languages

• De Marinis, Raffaele C. (1998). La Mummia del Similaun : Ötzi, l’Uomo Venuto dal Ghiaccio. Venice, Italy: Marsilio. ISBN 883177073X. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Fleckinger, Angelika (1998 (2000 printing)). L’Uomo Venuto dal Ghiaccio. Bolzano, Italy: Folio. ISBN 8886857039 (pbk.). {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help); Check date values in: |year= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

See also

• Bog bodies
• Incorruptibility
• List of fossil sites (with link directory)
• List of hominina (hominid) fossils (with images)
• Mummy

External links

• South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology – official website about Ötzi
• "Death of the Iceman" – a synopsis of a BBC Horizon TV documentary first broadcast on 7 February 2002
• Ötzi Links... Der Mann aus dem Eis vom Hauslabjoch – a list of links to websites about Ötzi in English, German and Italian (last updated 2006-01-28)
• Otzi, the 5,300 Year Old Iceman from the Alps: Pictures & Information (last updated 2004-10-27)
• Ötzi, the Glacier Man – information about Ötzi in Dutch and English (last updated February 2006)
• Photograph of Ötzi from the Mesa Community College, Arizona, USA