Analysis of skin and underlying tissues revealed that Ötzi underwent rapid desiccation while exposed to circulating air, being encapsulated in ice only at a later time. The mummy is much better preserved than more recent bodies found in similar glaciers, underscoring its importance. The incredible preservation of Ötzi’s body has been and remains a crucial point since its discovery. Almost universal agreement indicates that the mummy is not an artifact of human action, like Egyptian Dynastic mummies. South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology/Eurac/Samadelli/Staschitz.Īfter thousands of samplings and high-tech analytical tests, Ötzi is the most intensively studied mummy in the history of archaeology. This new interpretation is informed by “social theory” and is opposed by Ötzi’s original research group, which still favors the “disaster theory.” Ötzi has been intensively studied by archaeologists from all over the world. 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. Dug into snow and ice, the grave contents were partially dispersed by ice flows, until recent climatic fluctuation revealed the grave’s contents. When the pass became accessible, Ötzi may have been formally buried on the mountain peak to signal the political control of the tribe over its territory. Pollen analysis proves that Ötzi died in early spring, when the mountains were probably still snow-covered the body was likely left to rest for a few months in a controlled open-air environment, thus desiccating the corpse. These findings paved the way for a comprehensive alternative interpretation. Far from simply a casual killing, Ötzi opened a crucial window on the burial rituals and political strategies of a moment in European prehistory. In 2010, 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. Was Ötzi Buried? Ötzi was discovered face down in the melting ice of the Similaun glacier. The Iceman was found in the Tyrolean Alps on the border between Italy and Austria. After 20 years, a detailed topographic map of more than 400 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). Even after careful excavations in 1992, the complete crime scene findspot was not reconstructed. For these and other reasons, it was hard to question the original reconstruction of events surrounding the Iceman’s death. In the following years, after Ötzi was eventually put on exhibit at the Bozen Museum in Italy, the mummy became a popular tourist attraction and source of revenue. Such a dramatic and even romantic reconstruction was simple to communicate and visualize. No signs of scavenging activity were visible on the body, and all the equipment was left untouched. His body would have been rapidly dried by a strong, warm wind, and was soon covered by frozen snow. With an arrow deeply sunk in his left shoulder, he collapsed in solitude on the mountaintop, bleeding to death. On the way or on the pass, he was mortally wounded in an armed attack. Was Ötzi Attacked? The flint dagger and its wicker sheath found with Ötzi.īoth scholars and the general public gravitated to the so-called disaster theory in which Ötzi had climbed the slopes to the Tisenjoch. When scientists realized the antiquity of the find, the media response was overwhelming and Ötzi captivated audiences far and wide. His belongings, scattered around the body, included a bow and quiver with arrows, a complete copper-bladed axe, a flint dagger with a wicker sheath, two birch wood vessels clad with maple leaves, remnants of a backpack, a leather pouch with small objects, fur and leather garments, shoes, and other minor artifacts. He is a well-preserved male human corpse, dark in color, and dates to the early Copper Age, indicating he is more than 5,000 years old (ca. He was found on the border between Italy and Austria, at an altitude of 3,200 m above sea level. The Iceman mummy, nicknamed Ötzi, was discovered in 1991 amidst sheets of melting ice on the Tisenjoch pass of the Similaun glacier in the Tyrolean Alps.
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