Hard-to-reach and little-explored mountain regions have always been shrouded in a haze of special mysticism, and unexpected finds in such places usually become a real sensation, bringing with them more mysteries than answers to many questions that trouble the minds of mountain explorers. This is exactly what became a sensation in the early 90s. 20th century and the accidental discovery in the Tyrolean Alps, actually on the Austro-Italian border, by tourists - the Simon spouses - of a mysterious mummy, which scientists dubbed “Otzi the Ice Man” after the place of discovery - the Ötztal valley.

Alpine "Ice Man"

Alpine snow “preserved” the body of an ancient man, who, according to scientists, died approximately 5,300 years ago. Hardly married couple, going for a walk through the picturesque surroundings of the Alps, she was counting on such an alpine “surprise”, which later brought nothing but troubles to the spouses. Otzi's body was so well preserved under the snow and ice that tourists initially mistook the discovered mummy for an ordinary climber who died tragically in the mountains, and even called doctors. Witnesses of this discovery in the Alps claimed that the mummy initially seemed to be alive, but as a result of transportation and prolonged thawing it was significantly damaged, although numerous tattoos with specific images, which most likely were of a religious and mystical nature, were clearly visible on the well-preserved body. Scientists have determined that Otzi had long hair, a thick beard and brown eyes, and his height was about 159 cm. In addition, he was quite an old man for those years, since at the time of his death he was around 45-50 years old.

Fatal discovery, or Otzi's curse

Random coincidences, crossroads of destinies, or indeed a curse ice man, but after the discovery of Otzi there followed a series mysterious deaths many people who had a direct or indirect connection to the discovery and research of the Alpine mummy. The Simons who discovered the ice man long time led litigation with the city authorities, demanding a worthy reward for his sensational find. As a result, the trial ended in Simonov's favor. To celebrate, Helmut Simon went to the place where he and his wife discovered Otzi's mummy, and... fell into an unexpected snow storm, which turned out to be fatal for him. Simon's body was found in exactly the same position as when he found the ice man. As they later began to say, the discoverer of the Alpine mummy turned out to be its first victim.

Otzi's discovery ultimately turned out to be fatal for many who were somehow involved with it. Thus, the rescuer who found the body of the deceased tourist died an hour after Helmut’s funeral from a sudden heart attack. But this was only the beginning of a chain of tragic incidents, which indeed resembled some kind of curse of an Alpine mummy, whose peace in the snowy Alps was accidentally disturbed. Leading a team of doctors who were studying the DNA of the Iceman mummy, Dr. Henn died in a traffic accident while on his way to give an interview about research concerning Otzi. The climber who accompanied the doctor to the place where the mummy was discovered also soon died during a mountain collapse, as a result of which not a single member of the expedition was injured, with the exception of Fritz, who was related to the mysterious Alpine find. Touched by the mystic Otzi mummies and a journalist who was present during the transportation of the ice man and even filmed about him documentary. He died a couple of years after a series of mysterious deaths of everyone related to the history of the Alpine mummy.

Skeptical about the possibility of the existence of the Ice Man's curse, archaeologist Conrad Spindler sarcastically said that in this case he risks becoming the next victim. The irony was out of place: he soon died, becoming another “victim of Otzi’s mummy.” Since then, no one has dared joke about this. Otzi's mummy is kept in the archaeological museum of a small town in northern Italy - Bolzano, which many tourists visit every year solely to admire this terrible find, which turned out to be fatal for many.

Mysteries of the Alpine Mummy

The mysterious mummy of Otzi is still the cause of long discussions among researchers, but it seems that the ice man took all his secrets with him to the grave. But there are many assumptions as to who this mysterious man was. ancient man, and whether the mummy's curse really exists, or is it just a series of tragic coincidences. According to one of the most popular versions, the ice man discovered in the Alps was a powerful sorcerer, and that is probably why he was killed. There is also an assumption that during Otzi’s lifetime a special dying spell was cast, which threatens death to anyone who disturbs the peace of the deceased.

One of the most incredible versions is that Otzi was a great sorcerer who could travel through time. It would seem like complete nonsense, but... it is very curious that the things discovered with the Alpine mummy have a significantly different age. Thus, the copper ax, judging by the research of scientists, dates back to approximately the 1st century AD, while the quiver with arrows turned out to be 2 thousand years older than Otzi himself. However, there is a more reasonable explanation in this case. There is an assumption that Otzi’s mummy was kept in some kind of rock crypt and was periodically supplemented with new attributes, and as a result of the melting of glaciers, this ancient tomb was destroyed, and the body was shifted to the place where it was discovered by the Simon spouses.

For a long time, the prevailing version was that Otzi was murdered in the mountains, where the snow “preserved” his body for many centuries, but modern research disproved this theory. The “Ice Man” died somewhere in the valley, and was specially transported for burial high in the mountains. It is likely that Otzi was an ancient priest, as evidenced by the sacred tattoos on his body, and that is why he was buried in the mountains, where no one was supposed to disturb the peace of the great shaman. Be that as it may, the discovery of Otzi’s mummy only once again confirmed how many mysteries there are in the history of mankind, and how dangerous it is to disturb ancient burials.

In 1991, in the Alps, two German tourists did a terrible thing, and at the same time, interesting find in the Semiluan glacier. They discovered a very well-preserved body of a prehistoric man. It was so well preserved that at first people thought they had found a modern corpse. This find caused a sensation among scientists. They wrote about her in all scientific and science fiction magazines. Scientists and journalists thought for a long time what to call the amazing find, and in 1997, on July 2, it was dubbed the “Ice Man.”

Many people call Iceman" - Otzi. This name was given to it by the Viennese reporter Karl Wendl because the prehistoric find was discovered near the Ötztal valley. The photo shows Ötzi's perfectly preserved hand. (Robert Clark)

During the research, it turned out that the Ice Man was approximately 50 years old when he died. In Neolithic times, few people lived to such an advanced age. Scientists were so carried away by the find that, with the help computer graphics were able to recreate its appearance at that time in the smallest detail. They even managed to establish through DNA analysis that Ötzi had brown eyes. (Robert Clark)

Every small detail of Ötzi was important for research. Even the melt water that formed after its gradual defrosting was collected for bacterial research. (Robert Clark)

The Iceman's autopsy took 9 hours, but then the body was frozen back to avoid decomposition. (Robert Clark)

And this is the place where tourists discovered their find. At first, no one could imagine how old this mummy was, so simple workers removed it from the glacier using the most ordinary equipment, damaging Ötzi’s hip in the process. (Robert Clark)

And this is a vivid example of those times. The Iceman has more than 50 of them. They were applied by rubbing coal dust into the cuts. Since most of the tattoos coincide with acupuncture points, scientists believe that he did them not for decoration, but for treatment. (Robert Clark)

With this photo, scientists recreated the pose in which Ötzi lay for many years in the glacier. Along with him was his equipment: two baskets, a stone knife with a wooden handle, a copper axe, a quiver of arrows and a two-meter bow. Two types of tinder fungi were also found nearby. One was used as medicine and the other to start a fire. (Robert Clark)

The red arrow on the x-ray marks the location of the tip in Ötzi's body. (Robert Clark)

Scientists found that the Ice Man had stomach problems, which could even cause him to have an attack of appendicitis. 8 hours before his death, Ötzi had a snack. (Robert Clark)

Neurosurgeons determined that the Iceman had a head injury. (Robert Clark)

The photo shows a very valuable item from Neolithic times. A stone knife with an ash handle may have helped the Iceman more than once. (Robert Clark)

Only people with high social status used such an ax. The presence of it in the Iceman suggests that these belonged to the nobles of that time. (Robert Clark)

In addition to two ready-made arrows, in Ötzi’s quiver, blanks for 12 more arrows were found. (Robert Clark)

The Iceman may have been the first to collect a herbarium. They found a maple leaf on him, which for some reason he carried with him. (Robert Clark)

In 1991, on the Similawn glacier, tourists discovered the body of a man who lived about 5,300 years ago. The body was so well preserved that at first they thought it was one of our contemporaries. The find was immediately called sensational.

The red arrow (photo below) marks the place where the body frozen in the ice was found. At first, no one could even imagine the importance of the find, so they tried to remove the body using ordinary ice picks and a jackhammer, damaging the mummy’s thigh in the process.

Journalists managed to propose more than 500 names for the discovered mummy. On July 2, 1997, the government adopted official name- Ice Man. The find was made near the Ötztal valley, hence another nickname for the “Ice Man” - Ötzi. This name was coined by Viennese reporter Karl Wendl.

Research has shown that Ötzi's age at the time of his death was about 50 years old. Taking into account the fact that he lived during , this is a very respectable age. Artists Adris and Alphonse Kennis, using computer technology, attempted to recreate appearanceÖtzi. Special studies of his DNA even managed to determine the color of his eyes - they were brown. DNA analysis also helped determine the hair color; it was wavy and dark. He had excellent teeth without the slightest trace of caries, which he actively used not only for chewing food, but also for processing wood, leather and tendons.

There were 57 tattoos on the Iceman’s body, consisting of crosses, lines and dots. Ötzi's tattoos were made by rubbing coal dust into cuts on the skin. The tattoos coincide quite accurately with acupuncture points, so it has been suggested that in fact Ötzi's tattoos are not decoration, but traces of treatment.

During the process of defrosting the mummy, its temperature was gradually raised to room temperature. All the melt water was collected and sent for bacteriological analysis.

The autopsy of Ötzi's body lasted almost 9 hours, then the mummy was frozen again, lowering the temperature to the original (-6.1 C). The study was carried out at the Museum of Archeology of South Tyrol in Bolzano, Italy.

Among the equipment, Ötzi had a copper ax with him (the presence of a similar ax with a yew handle indicates that Ötzi had a high social status), a stone knife with a wooden handle, a quiver with arrows, a large two-meter bow and two baskets. He also had two types of tinder fungi with him:

• one was used to make fire,
• and the other as a medicine.

Ötzi's shoes were specially adapted for walking in the snow. The soles were made from bear skin, and the upper part of the shoes was made from deerskin. And instead of socks, Ötzi used soft grass.

Ötzi's mummy, on display at the South Tyrolean Museum of Archeology in Bolzano, Italy. Inside the sarcophagus, the conditions of the glacier that preserved the mummy for more than five thousand years were recreated.

"Ice man" on the operating table.

Remains of shoes worn by Ötzi.
Right: Photo showing where the stele was penetrated.

Legs of the Iceman

On September 19, 1991, in the Ötztal Alps at an altitude of 3200 meters, a German couple discovered a corpse... At first, the find was mistaken for a tourist who had disappeared and froze in the ice. They almost guessed, this tourist was killed 5300 years ago, and he killed four people in front of him. Try to believe it!

Iceman Ötzi, a mummy frozen in ice. The find was discovered by chance, in a melted glacier in the Ötztal Alps (Tyrol), at an altitude of 3200 meters in the Hauslabjoch saddle near Mount Similaun. Using carbon dating, scientists determined the age of the find to be 5,300 years old. The name of the mummy was given according to the place where it was found. Other names: Ötzi, Otzi, Similaun Man, Tyrolean Ice Man, and simply Ice Man. These are the most famous; journalists have come up with more than 500 names for this find.

How did you find it?

Ötzi was mined without archaeological supervision, by ordinary enthusiasts and tourists. The work was carried out using a jackhammer and ice axes. And the perfectly preserved mummy (let me remind you, had lain safely for more than 5,000 years) suffered its first loss - it damaged its hip. With the ice freed, the mummy's clothes began to be taken away as souvenirs. Well, at least there were only clothes, nearby there was a copper ax, a flint knife, the remains of a duffel bag, and more...

What to do with a mummy that is 5300 years old? Send the corpse to the morgue. The found body was transferred to the morgue of the city of Innsbruck (Austria), where the estimated, and later confirmed, age of the find was established.

With the advent of information about 5300 years, Italy instantly claimed the mummy. The find was indeed located in an area where it is difficult to trace the border line. But the Italians were able to prove that the mummy lay 92 meters 56 centimeters from the border with Austria. In the future, a 4-meter pyramid monument was installed on this site.

When Ötzi was found, no one identified who he was. The German tourists who found the mummy decided that it was an unfortunate traveler. The first researchers of the body said it was a priest. As the research progressed, completely different versions emerged. Ötzi was more like a modern soldier than a cattle breeder or farmer. The man was armed with a flint dagger, a yew bow, arrows, and a copper axe. And most importantly, traces of blood were found on the weapon. Before his death, Ötzi killed 4 people...

Death of a Warrior

At the time of death, Ötzi was approximately 165 cm tall, weighed 50 kg, and was 45-46 years old. The corpse found actually weighed 38 kg; the ice that covered the body immediately after death stopped the decomposition process.

IN last daysÖtzi did his life big way over difficult terrain. Despite his physical ailments, he was a resilient man. Researchers tracked his path thanks to... moss. Two types of moss that grow in damp places were found in his stomach (probably from water), and another type of moss was wrapped in goat meat that was in his backpack. Ötzi descended from the mountains into the alpine lowlands, collected peat moss, and then went back to the mountains. In 2 days he walked almost 60 kilometers. The rectum contained remains of bran, roots, fruits and two types of muscle tissue corresponding to chamois and deer meat. The last time Ötzi ate food was about 8 hours before his death.

Almost every expert who participated in Ötzi's research argues that the story of his murder will never be fully known. However, there is enough evidence to suggest that Ötzi was killed while he was resting and feeling safe. They shot him with a bow and then finished him off. Death probably occurred after being hit in the shoulder with a spear. But before that, Otzi killed himself.

Traces of blood that were found on the mummy's weapons, tools and clothing were tested for DNA in 2003. It turned out that this was human blood belonging to four people besides Ötzi. The blood of two people was found on the arrow, i.e. Ötzi shot one, removed the arrow from his body and killed the other with it. The blood of a third man was found on Ötzi's knife, and traces of a fourth man's blood were found on his jacket.

Clothing and weapons

The yew bow found on the mummy was a high-tech weapon for its time, and only appeared en masse among the English army thousands of years later. Also, Ötzi had a backpack with tools for making fire, canned food, a first aid kit with mass various herbs. The well-armed man was also well dressed: a jacket and trousers made of three layers of leather, lined with felt, a bearskin hat, a grass cloak, and insulated leather shoes.

A bearskin hat with a leather strap across the chin. The wide, waterproof boots were apparently designed for walking in the snow. They used bearskin for the soles, deerskin for the uppers, and bast for lacing. Soft grass was tied around the leg and used as warm socks. The coat, belt, trousers and loincloth were made from strips of leather sewn together with sinew. A bag with useful things was sewn to the belt: a scraper, a drill, flint, a bone awl and a dry mushroom used as tinder.

An analysis of the mitochondrial DNA of Ötzi's clothing showed that the skin of a goat, cow, or sheep was used, the fur hat was made from the skin of a brown bear, and the quiver was made from the skin of a roe deer.

In addition, among Ötzi's belongings, bundles of two types of tinder fungi were found. One of them, birch polypore, has antibacterial properties and was probably used for medicinal purposes. Another species, the true tinder fungus, was part of the flint.

Ötzi's copper ax

When a valuable copper ax was found among Ötzi’s belongings, it threw up many mysteries for scientists. It was previously assumed that the metal for it was mined in the Alpine region. But an examination in 2016 showed that the ax ore originates from Southern Tuscany, Italy. The results for scientists were surprising and unexpected. Where did Ötzi get this ax?

Elevated levels of arsenic and copper in Ötzi's hair have led to speculation that he may have forged the weapons himself by inhaling chemical substances in the production process. However, no contamination with these substances was found in other areas of the body, meaning he was neither a blacksmith nor a coppersmith.

This copper ax is the only perfectly preserved copper ax from the prehistoric period. The trapezoid-shaped ax blade, 9.5 cm long, consists of 99.7% copper. The carefully polished handle, 60 cm long, is made of yew, and was wrapped with narrow strips of leather to secure the blade to it. There are also traces of sharpening on the ax blade. According to Dr. Gilberto Artioli from the University of Milan, working group The universities of Milan and Triente examined the copper ax of the “ice man” and some other axes of the same time. Fast neutrons and high-energy X-rays make it possible to study the structure of copper crystals inside the ax without damaging the object itself. Differences in the copper crystal structure suggest that the thickness of the ax blade changed during the sharpening process. It can be assumed that axes made of copper in 5000 BC. e. could belong to people from the upper strata of society, and they also served as weapons. This gives reason to think that the “ice man” was either the leader of the group or a warrior.

About health problems 5300 years ago

The exact age at which an adult died is difficult to determine, since all the processes of maturation and growth have already been completed. To determine the age of the Ice Man, the structure of his bones was studied, which showed that Ötzi was about 45 years old at the time of death (with a maximum deviation of plus or minus 5 years). Consequently, the “ice man” reached a rather advanced age for a Neolithic man.

Having reached the age of about 45, Ötzi was considered one of the oldest in his society. His body showed clear signs of aging: joints were worn out, blood vessels in the process of calcification. In addition, the 12th pair of ribs was not found, which is a rare anomaly in our time.

Also on the body there are traces of injuries that Ötzi received during his life: a well-healed fracture of the ribs on the left side was established chest and a broken nose. There was also damage to his left leg thumb. The body is covered with tattoos.

Over the course of 20 years, various researchers have compiled a whole list of diseases that ancient man suffered from during his lifetime. For example, Lyme disease (tick-borne borreliosis), gallstones, gum disease, atherosclerosis, trichocephalosis. The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, also found that Ötzi suffered from hypolactasia (lactose intolerance) and was predisposed to cardiovascular disease.

Researchers had previously theorized a link between these diseases and the tattoos, clustered in 19 locations throughout the body. More specifically, they wondered whether this was a prehistoric form of acupuncture. The tattoos were not images of anything, but looked like crosses and lines made by rubbing charcoal into incisions in the skin. Interestingly, about 80 percent of tattoos are located along acupuncture lines, which are known modern specialists. If acupuncture was practiced during Ötzi's lifetime, it predates the earliest records of this type of treatment in China by 2,000 years.

The genes of the Copper Age man clarified many things for scientists, but perhaps the most interesting was that Ötzi was likely sterile. Today no one will know whether he had a family, but researchers discovered indicators of infertility in his genes in the mid-2000s.

It is also noteworthy that Ötzi was the first person ever discovered to belong to a previously unknown subcategory of haplogroup K. This means that Ötzi's mother's family most likely came from the south of the Alps or the Ötztal valley in Tyrol.

Scientists conducted two types of genetic analysis on Ötzi. Completed in 2008 full analysis mitochondrial DNA from the mummy, and now, almost four years later, they have published the results of an analysis of nuclear DNA, a rarer and more difficult to access part of the human genome.

Genetics have found that Ötzi was closer in kinship to modern inhabitants of southern Europe living on the islands of Sardinia and Corsica in the Tyrrhenian Sea, and not to the inhabitants of the Alpine regions (where the find was made).

In the Italian city of Bolzano, a conference was held entirely dedicated to one find - the famous mummy of a man of the Copper-Stone Age, named Ötzi. At this meeting, scientists and journalists heard for the first time the voice of an inhabitant of the European highlands who died more than 5,000 years ago.

The mummy of Ötzi was discovered by chance in 1991 in the Ötztal Alps in Tyrol at an altitude of 3,200 meters. Initially, the human remains exposed after the strong melting of the ice were mistaken for the body of a climber who died in the mountains. And only in the morgue of the city of Innsbruck was it possible to determine

That the man found had lain frozen in the ice for several thousand years in the mountains.

Along with the body, the remains of clothing and many items that the Ice Man used during his life were found. The name Ötzi, which has taken root in the press, comes from the name of the Ötztal valley, near which the find was discovered.

The discovery of the ice mummy has attracted the attention of many researchers around the world. Ötzi is believed to have lived between 3350 and 3100 BC, making him older than the Egyptian pyramids and Stonehenge. After death, the body was almost immediately covered with ice, which stopped the process of decomposition of soft tissues. Scientists have found that during his lifetime, Ötzi was approximately 165 cm tall and weighed about 50 kg. The age of the Iceman at the time of death could not be immediately determined. To do this, we had to carefully study the structure of his bones. It turned out that the person lived 45-46 years, which is quite an advanced age for the Eneolithic era.

Analysis of pollen, dust particles and tooth enamel showed that Ötzi lived almost all his life south of the main ridge of the Alps. The body shows obvious signs of aging: the joints are very worn, and circulatory system has signs of vascular diseases. Also on the body there are traces of injuries received by Ötzi during his life. Investigators found a healed rib fracture on the left side of the chest and a fractured nose. The big toe on his left foot was also damaged, most likely as a result of frostbite. More than 61 tattoos in the form of dots, lines and crosses, made in a rather primitive way, were found on Ötzi’s body. Small cuts were made on the skin, into which charcoal was poured.

There is still ongoing debate about the purpose of tattoos.

Some researchers see them as a rite of passage for a young man into adult life, while others consider this pattern to be a sign of a shaman. The mummy's hair was not preserved, but scraps of hair were found near the body, from which it was possible to reconstruct the Iceman's hairstyle. His hair was 9 cm long, wavy, and dark in color. Ötzi did not braid his hair, but most likely wore it loosely. Most likely, he had a short beard, as indicated by short curly strands found near the body. Chemical analysis of the hair structure showed that the Iceman's hair had a high level of arsenic.

It is possible that Ötzi lived in areas where bronze was processed and copper was mined. He wore a woven straw cloak, as well as leather "coats", a belt, trousers, a loincloth and "moccasins". A pouch with useful things was sewn to the belt. Also found near the body was a bearskin hat with a leather strap across the chin. Shoes were waterproof boots, which were probably intended for hiking in the snow. They used bearskin for the soles, deerskin for the uppers, and bast for lacing.

Soft grass was tied around the leg and used as socks.

Near the body, researchers found many items that belonged to Oetzi. This is an unfinished yew bow 182 cm long, a quiver with 14 arrows, two birch bark baskets, tools for lighting a fire and a flint knife with a wooden handle. A copper ax was also discovered near the mummy. This military weapon, and it could only belong to a person from the upper strata of society, researchers believe, so Ötzi could not have been a simple shepherd.

For a long time, there were two points of view about the causes of Ötzi’s death. Some researchers believed that ancient man simply froze in the mountains, others insisted on the version violent death. The latter is supported by the fact that the mummy had a knife in her hand when she was discovered. And in 2001, Italian researchers discovered an arrowhead stuck in the shoulder joint. They shot from behind, and the tip went in so deep that Ötzi could not pull it out.

However, it is not possible to reconstruct the full picture of events.

At the last three-day conference in Bolzano, dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the discovery of the mummy, scientists shared latest news. One of the most striking reports was the work of Italian scientists to reproduce Ötzi's voice.

“We cannot say that our reconstruction accurately conveys Ötzi’s voice. But based on the measured lengths of the vocal tract and vocal cords, a fairly good approximation of the mummy’s voice can be made,” Rolando Fustos, a leading researcher at the Bolza General Hospital, explained in an interview with Discovery News.

The larynx was studied using computed tomography. The researchers could not use magnetic resonance imaging for fear of damaging the remains, although this method would have given a much more reliable result. The position in which the Ice Man lay made the work of scientists very difficult. The hand was directly on the throat, the hyoid bone was dislocated and partially destroyed. To restore the original shape of the larynx, researchers used computer modeling methods. While the authors of the work have recreated the pronunciation in Ötzi's voice Italian vowels, but hope to continue working on consonants in the future. According to the published entry,

Ötzi had a fairly low and slightly trembling voice.

Another report given at the conference reveals the circumstances of the Ice Man's death. Alexander Horn from the German Criminal Investigation Department tried to reconstruct the events last hoursÖtzi's life using forensic methods. Previous studies have shown

that Ötzi ate Alpine ibex meat 2 hours 30 minutes before his death.

“When you're escaping persecution, you can't just sit down and eat a big meal,” Horne explains to the news portal. The researcher also notes that traces of blood were found on the clothes not only of Ötzi. Horn suggests new version events. A few days before his death, Ötzi had a quarrel and hand-to-hand combat, from which he emerged victorious. This is evidenced by traces of someone else's blood and some injuries. The losing side harbored a grudge. The killer, perhaps there were several of them, quietly crept up on Ötzi while he was resting.

The arrow was fired from a long distance and hit the victim in the back.

The murder for revenge is supported by the fact that the killer did not take Ötzi's things, leaving even a copper ax - a fortune for the Neolithic era.

The study of the Iceman has been going on for 25 years. During this time, thanks to Ötzi, scientists learned many facts about the life of people in the Copper-Stone Age. Since writing had not yet been invented, archaeological research remain the only opportunity to obtain information about the life and relationships of people during this period of time. There are still many questions waiting to be resolved, and the Ötzi case has not yet been resolved.