Ötzi the Iceman

Ötzi the Iceman is a natural mummy of a prehistoric (Neolithic) man found by a couple of German tourists on September 19, 1991, in a glacier of the Ötztaler Alps.

The well-preserved body of a 30-to-45-year old man dates back to 3300 BC. The body was examined, measured, x-rayed, and dated. Tissues were examined microscopically, as was the pollen found on his gear. The 160.5-centimeter-tall body was covered with tattoos. His clothes, including a grass cloak and shoes, were quite sophisticated - waterproof and wide, they seemed designed for walking across the snow. They were constructed using bearskin for the soles, deer hide for top panels, and a netting made of tree bark. Soft grass went around the foot and in the shoe and functioned like warm socks. The Iceman's equipment was incomplete or faulty. It is argued that he may have been a hunter or a shepherd, but others have put forth the theory that he was a chieftain, and his death was a ritual murder.

A recent CAT scan revealed that Ötzi had an arrowhead lodged in one shoulder when he died. This, combined with the evidence that he died alone in the Alps in winter, suggests that he was fleeing attackers. The ritual murder theory argues that, rather than fleeing attackers, he was killed to propitiate a god or gods, or that he was a chieftain and therefore ritually killed to ensure fertility.

Ötzi was the subject of a BBC2 Horizon[?] television programme broadcast in the UK on February 7, 2002.

External links

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2001/iceman.shtml - programme summary and other useful links

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There is also an Austrian singer and entertainer who calls himself DJ Ötzi.