Ötzi, the Iceman

Ötzi

25 years ago today (19 September 1991) the body of a man turned up in the Alps. He was dated to c. 3 300 BC (The Chalcolithic period) and had been mummified in the ice of a glacier. Today he can be seen at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Italy.

This find was actually one of the reasons for why I chose my profession. I was seven at the time they found him and he was one of my first real nerdy subjects. The finding of him was led to a massive interest from the media and one of my school teacher brought lots of them with her and we looked at the pictures and read all about him and talked about him and the Stone Age. He really made history come to life from me.

He seemed to have had a hard life, his body having many healed fractures. Isotope analysis of his tooth showed that he came from there area of either Eisacktal or Pustertal. Among other things he carried a copper axe and an unfinished bow. His tattoos have been discussed a lot. I, myself wait for the day someone comes up with the idea that he made them while he was drunk...


Picture from Wikipedia.