Introduction

Chapter 1: Introduction

Ötzi was named after the Ötzal Alps, the region in which his body was discovered. His real name, of course, will always remain a mystery. But scientists have been able to determine some information about his identity, including his age. Bone studies suggest that, when he died, the Iceman was 45.7 years of age.

From the time of his discovery in 1991, scientists have speculated that the Iceman was a hunter. But a recent study suggests that he may have been a shepherd instead.

By studying Ötzi the Iceman’s leg bones, primarily his tibia, or shin bone, and comparing it to the shin bones of 139 other prehistoric men who lived from the Mesolithic age and from the Neolithic age, scientists say that in many respects, his tibia more closely resembles those of European Mesolithic rather than Neolithic males, which may reflect a more mobile lifestyle than was characteristic of most Neolithic males. According to Dr. Ruff, the Iceman evidently went for long walks over extremely hilly terrain and was much more active than his contemporaries as reflected by the appearance of his tibia.

Ruff continued, "He was more like the people who came before" (that is the people from the Mesolithic Age) and suggests that his occupation was "probably that of a high-altitude shepherd."

The findings suggest that Ötzi was most likely born in Italian village of Feldthurns. However, the results also indicate that he lived most of his life in other northern valleys. The scientists deduced this by comparing the minerals in his tooth enamel with those in his bones. They also analyzed bits of mica found in his intestines.

Dr. Wolfgang Müller, from the Research School of Earth Sciences at the Australian National University in Canberra explained: "From the enamel it is possible to reconstruct the composition of the water Ötzi drank and get clues about the earth where his food was grown. As a result we now know Ötzi came from near to where he was found from the Eisack Valley (near Feldthurns). He spent his childhood there. And he spent his adulthood in Lower Vinschgau. Dr. Müller also concluded that Ötzi was not a world traveler and hadn't spent extensive time at higher elevations.

Descriptions of Ötzi The Iceman

On September 19, 1991, Ötzi was found at about 10,500 feet in the Öztal Alps on the border between Austria and Italy. His body was so well preserved that the hikers who found him and the first investigators assumed he had been dead for a relatively short time.

Current estimates, at the time of his death Ötzi was approximately 1.65 meters tall, weighed about 50 kilograms and was about 45 years of age. When his body was found, it weighed 38 kilograms. 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 Bolzano, but later went to live in valleys about 50 kilometers further north. Analysis by Franco Rollo's group at the University of Camerin has shown that Ötzi's mitochondrial DNA belongs to the K1 subcluster of the mitochondrial haplogroup K.

Analysis of Ötzi's intestinal contents showed two meals, 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 highly processed einkorn wheat bran, quite possibly eaten in the form of bread. There were also a few kernels of hair analysis was used to examine his diet from several months before.

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 at the time of Ötzi's death, which places the event in the spring.

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.

The body was taken then taken to Austria where scientists soon got to research on him. Then scientist decided to analyze the density of his bone to find out how old he was and they also examined his preserved belongings such as his copper axe. The cause of his death is still remains as a mystery. Now forensic scientists joined the Austrian archaeologists to investigate this unique case and new research has revealed a shocking answer.


DNA

Scientist had recovered some fungal material from Ötzi’s clothing and its DNA was consequently sequenced. In addition to that, some of Ötzi’s intestinal contents were also analyzed for macrofossils as well as its DNA. Plants’ and animals’ DNA were also recovered from both of his small and large intestines. Therefore, in cases like this, biologists or the scientist often obtain DNAs that they roughly know very little about. To learn more about this unknown sequence, one of the first steps that the biologist did to examine the DNA was to use a bio-informatics program such as the BLAST . BLAST stands for Basic Local Alignment Search Tools and it is used to to search the databases for similar sequences which is already known.

BLAST compares a given sequence to all sequences in a specified database in a pair-wise fashion. Each comparison is given a score, reflecting the degree of similarity between the query sequence and the sequence being compared. Discriminating between real and random matches is done by estimating the probability that the match might occur by chance. The significance of each alignment is computed as an E value, a statistical measure of significance. The e-value represents the probability that this match would have arisen by random chance in this database. For that reason, for any given search, the smaller the e- value, the better the match between sequences.

Shocking Discovery

It seemed his death might be shrouded in mystery forever. Then on June in the year of 2001, his new custodians, twhich were the Italians, decided to X-ray the body over again. Finally, a local hospital radiologist noticed what looked like a foreign object near the shoulder of Ötzi the Iceman, it was a shadow in the shape of an arrow. Firstly, when they looked at the density, they found it was denser than the bones; it was the same density as flint. They had discovered a stone arrowhead was embedded in Ötzi's shoulder, which had been missed out in site of 10 years of intensive study of Ötzi’s remains.


Again, scientists can tell a new story of the Iceman's death, which means another conclusion had arrived. The scientists believed that Ötzi was attacked and then he managed to flee. As he ran to escape and save himself, he was shot in the back with an arrow. He then pulled out the arrow shaft but the head of the arrow remained stuck in his shoulder. He reached the top of the mountains but was then already exhausted and had weakened from the bleeding in his shoulder caused by the arrow. He could not go further anymore, and finally laid down and died.


Despite this story has fit the latest result, there are also still so many unanswered questions t Ötzi the Iceman’s death. Scientists hope soon to conduct an autopsy to remove the arrowhead and only then will we be able to say for certain what killed Ötzi. The Iceman may have still be hiding more secrets inside his remains.

His equippments

These are the equipments he had:
1. A longbow made of yew
2. A chamois hide quiver
3. Fourteen arrows (only two finished) 

4. A copper axe
5. A flint-bladed dagger with a woven sheath
6. A tool for sharpening (retouching) flint
7. A larch wood frame and cords of a backpack (pannier)
8. Ibex bones
9. Two birch-bark cylinders
10. A calf leather belt pouch
11. A tassel made with a white marble bead and twisted hide strips
12. Two pieces of birch fungus (each threaded with hide strips)
13. Other tools





Descriptions of his equipments


The Scientists were thrilled to find the prehistoric axe. This is because this axe the only complete prehistoric axe ever discovered.


The axe is about two feet in length; it was made from a portion of the trunk of a yew tree where a right-angled branch grew. The haft of the axe, which is the handle, came from the trunk of the tree; the shaft, which is the part onto which the copper blade was fitted in, came from the branch. They are naturally joined. This allowed maximum durability. Most copper age axes are made from ash wood (Otzi's was the first one to be found made from yew). The copper blade was fitted into the shaft and wrapped with a leather binding; the binding was coated with birch tar. The shaft was forked at the end (about 3 inches or 7.5 centimeters long). This prehistoric axe blade is extended out of the leather binding about one inch or 2.5 centimeters in length.


The axe would be used quite differently from a modern one: three chops of the Iceman's axe would equal one swing from a modern one. Scientists even reconstructed his ax to make sure that it would work. It took 45 minutes, but a man was able to chop down a yew tree using the axe.


The dagger and sheath is the Iceman's knife, which was only 5 inches or 12.5 centimeters in length. Its flint blade resembles as an arrowhead; it was driven into the wooden handle. Since the handle split when the blade was attached, someone had tied the handle securely together with sinew, animal tendon. The sheath was woven from lime bastes. 

The birch fungus medicine was known to be the most unusual possession, according to many scientists, was Ötzi’s medicine. At first, researchers thought that the "two walnut-sized lumps with a consistency somewhere between cork and leather". This statement was according on what author John Noble Wilford said. He believed that this was not medicine at all. He concluded that this material was used to start fires. However, anthropologist Luigi Capasso reported that the material was actually a birch fungus used as a laxative and as a natural antibiotic. Since the Iceman was believed to have intestinal parasites, this medicine might have been a helpful remedy for Ötzi.


The flint sharpener of what is called the retoucheur, is made from the antler tip in the background. 

The flint sharpener or retouching tool (also called a retoucheur). The handle is made from lime wood, with a small piece of deer antler (hardened by fire) inserted at the tip of the tool.