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Ötzi the Iceman is a well-preserved natural mummy of a man from about 5300 BP. The mummy was 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 (Ötz valley), 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. The body and his belongings are displayed in the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, northern Italy.
Photo (left) taken by Don Hitchcock at the travelling exhibition of the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour, Sydney NSW Australia February 2008
Photo (right) taken by Jerrers at the Smithsonian, Washington DC.
Ötzi the Iceman
Photo taken by Don Hitchcock at the travelling exhibition of the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour, Sydney NSW Australia February 2008
Ötzi the Iceman in situ (left) as he was found by 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, and was treated as such, as in the second photograph (right) in which the body is carried away for identification.
Photo and text: http://www.crystalinks.com/oetzi.html
Ötzi the Iceman
This is a beautifully made model of what Ötzi looked like, and his clothing and equipment.
Photo taken by Don Hitchcock at the travelling exhibition of the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour, Sydney NSW Australia February 2008
Ötzi the Iceman
Close up of Ötzi showing his copper axe.
Photo taken by Don Hitchcock at the travelling exhibition of the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour, Sydney NSW Australia February 2008
Ötzi the Iceman
Close up of Ötzi showing his shoes, made of grass cord and leather.
Photo taken by Don Hitchcock at the travelling exhibition of the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour, Sydney NSW Australia February 2008
One of the two birch bark containers that Ötzi had with him.
Photo taken by Don Hitchcock at the travelling exhibition of the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour, Sydney NSW Australia February 2008
Close up of the quiver and the fletchings on the arrows Ötzi had with him.
The recreators of the arrows seem to have used two methods for attaching the feathers.
1. They seem to have cut a groove in each side of the shaft of the arrow, and glued a half feather into the groove.
2. They also seem to have attached the feathers merely by binding the feathers on to the shaft.
Notice also what appears to be a piece of bone attached with cord to the end of the arrow, with a groove carved in it to accept the bow string.
Photo taken by Don Hitchcock at the travelling exhibition of the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour, Sydney NSW Australia February 2008
View of the quiver and Ötzi's back and clothing.
Photo taken by Don Hitchcock at the travelling exhibition of the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour, Sydney NSW Australia February 2008
Attachment of the quiver.
Photo taken by Don Hitchcock at the travelling exhibition of the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour, Sydney NSW Australia February 2008
Rear view showing hat, quiver, arrows, bow and clothing.
Photo taken by Don Hitchcock at the travelling exhibition of the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour, Sydney NSW Australia February 2008
Where Ötzi was found, in the South Tyrol, in the Italian Alps.
Photo taken by Don Hitchcock at the travelling exhibition of the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour, Sydney NSW Australia February 2008
Ötzi in situ in the glacier. He was thought at first to be a modern human.
Photo: http://www.planet-wissen.de/
(via Wikipedia)
Copyright owner: 19 September 1991, 13:30, by Helmut Simon
Another photograph of Ötzi before being removed from the site.
Photo: http://www.rolf-tiemann.de/oetzi/oetzi.htm
(via Wikipedia)
X-ray (or ultrasound?) of Ötzi's chest, with the arrow head which killed him shown on the left in a different colour.
Photo taken by Don Hitchcock at the travelling exhibition of the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour, Sydney NSW Australia February 2008
Another X-ray of Ötzi's chest, with the arrow head which killed him shown circled.
Photo taken by Don Hitchcock at the travelling exhibition of the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour, Sydney NSW Australia February 2008
The steel rod shows the point of entry of the arrow in Ötzi's chest.
Photo taken by Don Hitchcock at the travelling exhibition of the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour, Sydney NSW Australia February 2008
A superb recreation of what Ötzi looked like when first found. The effect is obtained by having the model inside a translucent case, with viewing ports, to give the impression of a body encased in ice.
Photo taken by Don Hitchcock at the travelling exhibition of the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour, Sydney NSW Australia February 2008
The copper axe - weapon or symbol?
Ötzi's best item was his copper axe. It is unique in being the only perfectly preserved prehistoric axe in the world. Because of the soft copper cutting edge, it was initially assumed that the axe was an emblem of rank, a status symbol of a warrior or chieftain which only the elite could carry. However, wear patterns on the axe and experiments with a reconstructed axe showed that Ötzi's axe was capable of felling trees.
Photo taken by Don Hitchcock at the travelling exhibition of the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour, Sydney NSW Australia February 2008
Here is how the axe could have been cast, by pouring molten copper into a sandstone mold.
Photo taken by Don Hitchcock at the travelling exhibition of the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour, Sydney NSW Australia February 2008
Perfect equipment
Ötzi carried with him everything he needed to kindle a camp fire and fashion weapons. His equipment allowed him to remain away from his home for long periods. In his belt pouch he carried tinder for starting fires as well as flint blades and drills. A touch up tool served to resharpen the blades. He carried a dagger in a finely braided bast scabbard hanging from his belt, where it was always to hand. His quiver contained animal sinews, a bundle of antler tips and 14 arrow shafts, two of which were ready to shoot and 12 unfinished. The bow was also unfinished.
The photos at left show the bundle of antler tips.
Photo taken by Don Hitchcock at the travelling exhibition of the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour, Sydney NSW Australia February 2008
Expert in woods?
Ötzi's equipment was made of natural materials such as leather, wood and grass. The variety of woods used is astonishing. Evidently the most suitable material was selected for each item: tough resin-free yew for the bow and the axe haft, straight grained wood for the dagger handle, resilient hazel for the bent pack frame. People of the copper age had detailed knowledge of materials, much of which is lost to our modern civilisation.
Photo taken by Don Hitchcock at the travelling exhibition of the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour, Sydney NSW Australia February 2008
Where did Ötzi live?
Ötzi lived south of the main Alpine ridge. This is indicated by pollen, teeth and wood analyses as well as his flints, which came from the Lake Garda region, and his axe, whose shape is known from the Remedello culture on the Po plain. Ötzi could have been a member of the Tamins-Carasso-Isera 5 Alpine cultural group, which settled in the Vinschgau Valley. If only Öti had also taken along a piece of stoneware or ceramic with hima clear regional classification would have been possible, as every cultural group had a unique way of shaping, decorating and firing clay.
Photo taken by Don Hitchcock at the travelling exhibition of the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour, Sydney NSW Australia February 2008
Ötzi's fur cap.
Photo taken by Don Hitchcock at the travelling exhibition of the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour, Sydney NSW Australia February 2008
Ötzi's knife, flint hafted on wood.
Photo taken by Don Hitchcock at the travelling exhibition of the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour, Sydney NSW Australia February 2008
Construction of Ötzi's shoes. They appear to have had grass soles, shod with leather, with woven grass cords with grass woven between the cords on top to hold the foot and keep it warm, and with a leather "apron" in front to protect the foot from snow.
Photo taken by Don Hitchcock at the travelling exhibition of the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour, Sydney NSW Australia February 2008
Touching up tool for sharpening flint blades. The handle is made from lime wood, with a small piece of deer antler hardened in the fire set into it.
Photo taken by Don Hitchcock at the travelling exhibition of the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour, Sydney NSW Australia February 2008
This is a tinder fungus, Fomes fomentarius which is used to start fires. It is ground to a fine powder and is used as tinder with flint and Iron Pyrites. The flint is struck on the Iron Pyrites, which creates a spark, which with care can be made to land in the prepared fungus and blown to an ember. This was a standard method of starting a fire in the Neolithic.
The tinder fungus in the pouch of Ötzi contained iron pyrites particles, but no Iron Pyrites was found with Ötzi.
If it is hammered flat, it can be turned into something like felt. It can then be kept smoldering, allowing the user to transport fire easily from one place to another.
Photo taken by Don Hitchcock at the travelling exhibition of the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour, Sydney NSW Australia February 2008
It was late spring or early summer, when a modest tree called the hop hornbeam unfurls bright yellow clusters of flowers in the steep valleys that run north into the mountains now known as the Italian Alps. The man hurried through a forest he knew well, wincing from the pain in his injured right hand and pausing occasionally to listen for sounds that he was being pursued. As he fled up the slope, the yellow pollen of the hornbeam blossoms fell like an invisible rain, salting the water and food he consumed when he stopped to rest. Five thousand years later, the Neolithic hunter we call the Iceman would still bear traces of this ancient dusting inside his body—a microscopic record of the time of year it was when he passed through this forest and into the nearby mountains, where fate would finally catch up with him.
Photo: National Geographic Magazine, July 2007 from an article by Stephen S. Hall, with artwork by Kazuhiko Sano.
The evidence strongly indicates that the Iceman's last journey began in the low-altitude deciduous forests to the south, in the springtime when the hop hornbeams were in bloom.
When he reached a mountain pass now known as Tisenjoch, he likely paused to rest. He had completed a vertical climb of 6,500 feet (2,000 meters) from the valley below, and to the north faced a desolate, glacier-riven landscape. Perhaps the rocky hollow where he found himself offered some shelter from the wind. We do not know if his enemies caught up with him at that spot, or were waiting there in ambush for him to arrive. What we do know is that he never left that hollow alive.
Photo: National Geographic Magazine, July 2007 from an article by Stephen S. Hall.
A stone arrowhead was found lodged beneath the Iceman's left shoulder blade.
The sharpened piece of stone, probably flint, had made a half-inch gash in the Iceman's left subclavian artery. This is the main circulatory pipeline carrying fresh oxygenated blood from the pumping chamber of the heart to the left arm. Such a serious tear in a major thoracic artery would almost certainly lead to uncontrolled bleeding and rapid death. "This is a lethal wound," Rühli says. "It was pretty quick. With this kind of bleeding, you don't go walking uphill for hours."
Photo: National Geographic Magazine, July 2007 from an article by Stephen S. Hall, with artwork by Kazuhiko Sano.
This new medical evidence suggests that an attacker, positioned behind and below his victim, fired a single arrow that struck the Iceman's left shoulder blade—precisely the area at which prehistoric hunters aimed to bring down game with one shot. The arrow went clean through the bone and pierced the artery. Blood instantly began to gush out, filling the space between the shoulder blade and the ribs. In his few remaining minutes of life, the Iceman became a textbook case of what is now known as hemorrhagic shock. His heart started to race. Sweat drenched his garments, even at an altitude two miles (three kilometers) above sea level. He felt increasingly faint because not enough oxygen was reaching his brain. In a matter of a few minutes, the Iceman collapsed, lost consciousness, and bled out.
Photo: National Geographic Magazine, July 2007 from an article by Stephen S. Hall, with artwork by Kazuhiko Sano.
Then, in a fantastically fortunate cascade of circumstance, the brutal weather of the Ötztal Alps conspired with chance to perform one of the greatest embalming jobs in the history of human remains. The frigid glacial environment eventually tucked him in like a cold, wet blanket, immobilizing and preserving his body in snow, ice, and glacial meltwater. The little ravine protected his lifeless form from the bone-grinding action of the Niederjoch Glacier, which passed just a few feet overhead for the next 5 300 years.
Photo: National Geographic Magazine, July 2007 from an article by Stephen S. Hall, with artwork by Kazuhiko Sano.
Walter Leitner, an archaeologist at the University of Innsbruck believes the bloody mountaintop confrontation was the denouement of a political dispute that began down in the valley, where rivals within the Iceman's own tribe tried to assassinate him.
A microscopic analysis of the Iceman's hand wound, and the fact that it had begun to close and heal, suggests that it occurred well before the final mortal blow. "So there must have been some fight, some kind of battle, at least one day—and perhaps even two or three days—earlier," said Egarter Vigl.
"The time had come where his opponents had become stronger," Leitner speculates, "but he didn't recognize that his reign was coming to an end and was holding on to his position." Leitner says that after the fight in the village, "It looks as if the Iceman was planning to flee and that his trip was brought to an end by his opponents."
Photo: National Geographic Magazine, July 2007 from an article by Stephen S. Hall, with artwork by Kazuhiko Sano.
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