A 5300-Yr-Old Well Preserved Body With Clothing Found by Hikers at the Top of Alps Stuns Archaeologists

Out of all the discoveries made by mankind under the ice, the well-preserved body of a 5,300-year-old iceman has continued to fascinate researchers. The mummified body of an ancient man dubbed Otzi the Iceman was dug out of a glacier in the Italian Alps in 1991, according to Live Science. Otzi ended up becoming an international sensation and was named by the press after the mountains above Otzal Valley where the body was found.

Otzi was found with mummified remains of the clothing he wore and researchers have continued to study it ever since. "He is so important because, for the first time, we have the possibility of knowing a Copper Age individual who died in the same situation as he had lived," said Katharina Hersel, a spokesperson for the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, Italy, where Ötzi is housed.

Otzi was originally discovered by two German hikers who were crossing over the Tisenjoch Pass at an elevation of 10,530 feet, located above the valley in western Austria. That was when they noticed the outstretched arm of Otzi's mummy and he was found lying on his stomach. His left arm was strongly angled to the right and positioned under his chin.

The summer of 1991 in that region was particularly hot, resulting in the ice melting and exposing Otzi's remains. The hikers informed the Austrian authorities who thought it was the body of a victim from an unfortunate mountaineering accident. According to the Smithsonian Magazine, parts of the mummy were damaged during the excavation process carried out by untrained people. It took five days for people to free the mummy from the ice. Otzi was airlifted and transported to the Institute of Forensic Medicine at Innsbruck Medical University in Austria. An archaeologist at the University of Innsbruck, Konrad Spindler, examined the mummy and confirmed that it was at least over 4,000 years old, as reported by Scientific American.

Due to Otzi being covered in ice, a natural mummification process took place, preserving his tissues that were intact enough to conduct a radiocarbon analysis. The experts figured that the iceman lived in the Copper Age which spanned from 3,500 B.C. to 1,700 B.C. The mummy was later transferred to the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology where it was placed in a special cold cell to keep it at a constant temperature of 6.5 degrees Celsius. Further research also helped the experts to determine how Otzi died. 

He was about 1.60 m tall and weighed 50 kilos when he was alive. Otzi died when he was in his 40s and suffered from ailments like Lyme disease and intestinal parasites. His teeth, joints, hips, shoulder, knees, and spine showed significant signs of wear and tear, suggesting he had arthritis, too. His lungs were full of soot, indicating that he spent a lot of time around open fire. Otzi also had tooth decay and gum disease. DNA analysis of Otzi revealed that he belonged to a genome unrelated to the current population of people in modern-day Europe. He had genetic affinities with the inhabitants of Sardinia and Corsica.

A 2012 study published in the journal Nature Communications, revealed that Otzi possibly had brown eyes, type O blood, and was lactose intolerant. As for his wardrobe, Otzi was wearing a cloak, leggings, a belt, a loincloth, a bearskin cap, and shoes when he died. Otzi also sported a total of 61 tattoos which were in the shape of parallel lines over his rib cage, lower back, wrist, ankles, knees, and calves. It was highly likely that the iceman was murdered as there were signs of significant injuries to his shoulder and head. A 2012 study published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface revealed that the arrow was the main cause of death. "The arrowhead pierced through the left shoulder blade and injured an important artery, the subclavian artery, under the collarbone," Hersel explained.