chance find

Thanks to the cold, his body was perfectly preserved. According to the name of the local town, the deceased was dubbed "otzi", or "ice man"

When "otzi" was removed from the glacier, his body was slightly damaged. One of the forensic experts even tried to get the "otzi" with a ski pole. Then the rescuers broke him left hand when transported to the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Innsbruck. Since then, "fathers" have been treated with more care. He is now at the Institute of Anatomy Innsbruck. The storage temperature is the same as inside the glacier - minus six degrees. Otzi lies wrapped in a plastic-coated cloth under several layers of crushed ice. Once every two to three weeks, a special procedure is performed that does not allow the ice to melt. At this time, the researchers transfer the mummy to a laboratory equipped with special devices to take an x-ray or take the smallest particles of the body for analysis.

In the Ötzgale Alps, where today the border between Italy and Austria runs, the traveler advanced at a rapid pace. He was not attracted by the beauty of the surrounding glaciers. He was in a hurry. Some extraordinary circumstances - a quarrel or a sudden attack - forced him to leave his village on this autumn day.

The man walked with the last of his strength: he was wounded. Broken ribs caused unbearable pain. He was angry with himself for losing his bow. Down in the valley, overcoming acute pain, he was able to cut down a small yew tree, split its trunk and cut a springy bow for a bow. He made arrows from the branches of a young viburnum, but did not have time to finish his work - his arrows were left without plumage and without tips.

Finally, completely exhausted, he laid down his ax, unfinished bow, shoulder basket, a vessel of birch bark and sat down to refresh himself with a piece of dried goat meat. The weather began to worsen. The man remembered the shelter in the rock, which he noticed even when he walked through this pass with his herd. He decided that he could wait out the approaching snowstorm there. With the last of his strength, he got to his feet, but after taking a few steps, he dropped his quiver and staggered. When he reached cover, he lay on his side to alleviate the pain a little. This crevice in the rock became his grave. The tragedy happened about five thousand years ago... Approximately such a picture was restored by anthropologists on the basis of all the data obtained. As a result, the "ice man" has become a world celebrity.

Last Shelter" ice man". After a grueling passage through the pass, the wounded and exhausted "Otzi" hid in a shelter in a rock.

We managed to learn quite a lot about our distant European ancestor. His age was determined - about thirty years old, height - 1 meter 58 centimeters, weight - at least 50 kilograms. The entire body of the "otzi" was decorated with tattoos. The state of health of the Tyrolean was deplorable: rotten teeth, damaged spine and joints, broken nose, frostbitten little finger on the leg, broken ribs.

The remains of "otsi" studied whole army specialists. With the help of radiography, tomography and endoscopy, they were able to examine their ward from the stomach to the very tips of the nails.

1. According to the image of the skull entered into the computer, scientists recreate the virtual appearance of the "otchi".

2. Elizabeth Daines, plastic reconstruction specialist, restores the face of the "father".

3. The first model is used to make the mold. Based on it, a whole series of heads is produced.

4. With the help of silicone, the texture of the skin is imitated. Now it remains only to implant the hair.

By the time of the death of the "Ice Man", the urban civilizations of Mesopotamia were already engaged in intensive agriculture, trade, and were literate. Egypt was mighty empire. Lagging behind for several centuries, Europeans were only moving from collecting fruits and hunting to farming and cattle breeding, as well as to a settled way of life. The first attempts were made to sculpt earthenware. During the Otzi era, Eastern Europeans knew how to breed goats, sheep, cattle, and pigs. They plowed their fields with wooden plows, grew wheat, barley, flax, peas and lentils. Grains of wheat were found in the clothes of the "ottsi" and in one of the vessels.

Thanks to the "otsi" it was possible to fill in many gaps in our knowledge about the life and clothing of the ancient man. It turned out that people of this distant era already knew how to make shoes from leather, and they used dry grass as insulation.

The primitive Tyrolean was dressed in a wide loincloth, which was supported by a belt. The upper part of the body was covered with a shirt sewn from thin multi-colored strips of leather. To protect himself from the cold, he wore a fur hat and a sleeveless cape made of woven straw, similar to those worn by all European and Asian shepherds from the Atlantic to Pacific Ocean. In addition, the "otzi" had two more wicker items: a dagger sheath and a net. Previously, scientists believed that in the late Neolithic era, people already mastered the technique of weaving, but it turned out that the skill of "otchi" was limited to a simple weaving of strips.

"Iceman" was well equipped for survival in harsh climates. He wore a belt with a pocket of calfskin, which contained a bone awl, a flint and steel consisting of tinder and a piece of sulfur pyrites, as well as three flint tools - a scraper, an awl and a sharp razor-like blade. In addition to the dagger, a tool intended for minor repairs was found on the belt: a plate of very hard deer antler, inserted into the handle and shaped like a modern technical diamond for cutting glass. Two mushrooms with the properties of modern antibiotics were found in the first-aid kit. And in one of the two vessels, "otzi" kept coals covered with fresh maple leaves.

The quiver and arrows caused complete delight among archaeologists. The notches of the arrows were gradually shortened. Holding the string of his bow in them, the "otzi" was constantly ready to shoot. The blade of the "ice man" ax was made of copper. This fact has caused a lot of speculation. According to the latest archeological data, this metal was first smelted in Anatolia between the 7th and 6th millennium BC, and its production contributed to the development of the Sumerian city-states in the 4th millennium BC. In Western Europe, copper appeared only in the III millennium. The blades of such daggers were found in Italy, in the south of France and in Spain on the sites of settlements that existed two and a half thousand years before the birth of Christ.

Items found at the site of his father's death

Bear skin hat.
"Otzi" made his headdress from the skin of an animal he had killed.

Neolithic weapons.
With a similar tool, "otzi" sharpened his arrows and butchered dead animals.

Iceman shoes.
The soles are made of bearskin, the uppers are made of deerskin, insulated with dry grass.

The presence of weapons at the "otzi" proves that copper was known in the Alpine mountains several centuries earlier. It is likely that this metal spread not only in the Mediterranean countries, but also penetrated deep into the continent. First, copper processing developed in Serbia, then in Hungary and the Lower Alps, and even later in southern Germany and eastern Switzerland.

For some time in south-eastern Europe, heavy and massive metal tools were produced, which suddenly disappeared in the era of "otzi" - they found only an ax blade. Scientists believe that by this point, easily accessible ore veins were depleted.

But even if archaeologists could determine the place of origin of the metal, they are unlikely to say with great accuracy where the fugitive came from. The death of the "otsi" on this pass only confirms that people living on both sides of the Alpine mountains communicated with each other. From bits of moss found in his clothes, it can be assumed that the "ice man" came from somewhere in the south. Apparently, he was from the Italian part of Tyrol.

During the ottsi era, the slopes of the mountains were covered with dense forests. The primitive Tyroleans could not cut down these trees. Therefore, in the summer they drove their herds high into the mountains, where there were almost no trees. By examining the pollen, botanists from Innsbruck proved that alpine meadows were already used as pastures seven thousand years ago. But in order to climb the pastures of the Ötztal Alps, it was necessary to pass through the Hauslab mountain pass, located at a distance of one day's walk from the alleged native village of "otzi".

The most fantastic assumptions were made about the occupation of "otzi". He could be a merchant, a miner, or even a shaman. But scientists have not found any definite confirmation of this. Apparently, "otzi" was a shepherd. If he had a weapon, it was only to diversify his menu or protect livestock from predators. In the coming years, researchers are going to analyze the structure of Otzi's bones, examine his hair and even the dirt under his nails under an electron microscope, and determine the type of wood from which the tools he found are made.

Unfortunately, the natural mummy "otzi" is so far the only find of its kind, and archaeologists always like to compare their discoveries. In any case, the Alpine "ice man" remains one of the archaeological sensations of our century.

OTSI Study Continues

Otzi remains are being explored in Austria, Germany, France and the United States. X-rays, as well as endoscopic tests, showed that his stomach was empty, and only the remains of plant fibers were found in the colon. This speaks of the scarcity of his last meal. Comparison of his skull with other skulls of the prehistoric era confirms that the "otsi" belonged to the peoples of northern Italy. Genetic analysis shows that we are talking about a typical European who inhabited the northern and central parts of Europe. A careful examination of the nails with a magnifying glass gives grounds to believe that this man, in the last five months of his life, found himself three times in critical situations. Analysis of trace elements in the hair showed high levels of arsenic, copper, nickel, and manganese, suggesting that the Iceman's occupation may have been associated with metalworking.

Otzi's riddle

On September 19, 1991, on the border of Italy and Austria, in the Tyrolean Alps, after an extreme ice melt on the Similaun Glacier at an altitude of 10,500 feet, a group of climbers found the body of an ancient man who lived about 5,300 years ago. The amazingly preserved mummy is still fraught with many mysteries, although enough time has passed since the discovery. Dozens of scientists have studied the remains, but prehistoric man continues to hide secrets from modern researchers.

In honor of the village of Otztal, in the vicinity of which the climbers found the mummy, the deceased wanderer was lovingly christened Otzi. Now he is also known "by the names" Erzi, the Similaun man and the Tyrolean ice man.

Scientists were very interested in Otzi: he was too well preserved thanks to his icy grave - Egyptian mummies, whose age is much younger, look much worse. No wonder that Italy and Austria began to fight fiercely for the right to possess a unique archaeological find. As a result, the mummy was transferred to ... Germany, where its detailed study was first carried out.

Anthropologists heated the body to a temperature of 2 degrees Celsius and took tissue samples for further study without damaging the structure and condition of the mummy. Swiss scientists managed to analyze the dental tissue of an unusual "patient", thanks to which the whole world learned what kind of diet our ancestors had in those days. Using the latest developments in biology, it is possible to find out from the dental tissue what a person ate in childhood, since it is at this stage that enamel is formed. Remains of bran, muscle tissue, were extracted from the rectum, which indicates that ancient man ate goat meat. The high content of copper and lead hints that he dealt with the production of copper. According to the researchers, the Similaunian man could well have belonged to a small tribe, one of the main occupations of which was agriculture.

Otzi's height is 159 cm, the estimated age is 46 years. Strange tattoos were found on the back and body of the mummy. Studying them, some scientists agreed that Otzi could well be a priest or a sorcerer. This version is supported by the amulet found in the deceased person, as well as the discovery in that area by the Austrian ethnographer Hans Haid of a prehistoric sanctuary.

The Society of Ancient Astronauts (AAS, Ancient Astronauts Society) dared to assert a connection between Otzi and aliens from outer space, although, in my opinion, such a connection in this case is far-fetched. Nevertheless, something mystical is still present in this mysterious figure of antiquity.

The main problem that archaeologists faced when studying Otzi was the presence of objects with him that should not have been together in any way, because they belonged to different eras. It would seem that everything is normal at first glance: leather shoes with grass for insulation; loincloth made of chamois, mountain goat and deer skins; leather shirt, belt, fur hat, gaiters, straw cape, grass net. With clothes, everything seems to be logical and correct, but with a combination of guns ...

For example, a scraper, arrowheads, a flint knife with a wooden handle belong to three periods of the Paleolithic (Ancient Paleolithic (200 million years ago), Middle Acheulean (200 thousand years ago), Upper Paleolithic (~12 thousand years ago)). In addition, Otzi had an ax and a yew bow! The ax is very reminiscent of products dating from the period 4500-5000 years ago, and the bow seems to be taken from the Middle Ages!

As already mentioned, Otzi himself was "estimated" at 5300 years. Probably, this assessment would have been completely different if this marvelous set of artifacts had not appeared before scientists. If they found one thing, then, most likely, the age of the Similaunian man would be equated to the age of the tool found near him.

And so it remains only to guess, scrolling in my head fantastic versions about aliens or a time machine. However, why not? But what if Otzi is a man from the future, who decided to ride like a tourist into the past, who collected a collection of exhibits different eras? Still, it is unlikely, although science fiction writers will readily support such a version.

In the meantime, science fiction writers are thinking, the Tyrolean man has put modern geochronology into a dead end, from which it cannot yet get out.

Initially, scientists believed that Otzi simply froze in the mountains, but now the official verdict sounds different. The first to challenge the traditional version of death from cold were the curator of the Bolzano Archaeological Museum Eduard Vigl and the climber Alois Pirpamer, who found the mummy in the mountains. As it turned out, Pirpamer found a knife in the clutched hand of the Tyrolean mummy, which fell out when the body was removed from the ice and transported. Examining the palm of the right hand of an ancient man, Vigle confirmed the words of the climber, and also discovered a deep wound that could have been received in hand-to-hand combat and possibly caused death.

Forensics, led by Peter Venezis, took up the case. As a result, it was found out that Otzi received multiple injuries: his spine was damaged, his ribs and nose were broken, his toe was frostbite, right hand crippled, with wounds and bruises all over her body.

As scientists now say, Otzi is the victim of an ancient crime. Surprisingly, the mystery of his death can be considered almost solved! Experts believe that the Tyrolean Man died in a fight that lasted two days. Traces of blood found on Otzi's body and objects found nearby four people. The blood of two people was found on a quiver with arrows, another blood was the blood of Otzi himself, and a cape found near the body was saturated with the blood of a fourth person. Criminologists agreed that Otzi was rescuing a wounded comrade and carrying him on his shoulder.

In 2001, an Italian researcher found that Otzi had an arrowhead stuck in his shoulder. Apparently, the shot was fired from behind, and the tip went in so deep that Otzi did not have the skill and strength to pull it out. To understand the details of the small battle, scientists are examining the place where the body of the Similaun Man was found: they are looking for signs of a struggle, new evidence, including the body of a comrade.

Perhaps 5,300 years ago, there was a minor skirmish between two warring communities in that place, and Otzi's body was lost in the mountains, not discovered by the surviving tribesmen.

Mystics of our time, having adopted the version of tragic fate ancient warrior, they talk about bad energy mummies. Their words are confirmed by statistics, which, of course, may turn out to be just a sad coincidence.

"On account" Otzi already six people. The first victim was Rainer Henn, a medical examiner who was part of a team that examined a prehistoric corpse found on a glacier. Shortly after he spoke publicly about the Similaunian Man at a press conference, Henn died in a car accident. The second was Kurt Fritz, who participated in the operation to extract the mummy: he was covered in the mountains by an avalanche, and only he was injured from the entire chain of climbers. Journalist Rainer Holz, who covered the discovery of Otzi in the press, became the third - he died suddenly from a brain tumor. The fourth victim is the discoverer of the mummy, Helmut Simon. After the discovery of Otzi, the climber began to suffer from a split personality, considering the Tyrolean ice man a part of himself. After unsuccessful attempts to get a large sum money from the province of Bolzano, where Simon found the mummy, Helmut began to organize independent ascents to the place of discovery. In one of these ascents, the climber died under a mountain collapse. The fifth dead was Dieter Warnecke, a climber who participated in the search for Simon. He died immediately after the funeral of a colleague from a heart attack.

The latest victim so far is anthropologist Conrad Spindler. His troubles began from the moment he began to study Otzi in earnest. The Austrian scientist devoted years of his life to analyzing its origin, Spindler wrote the book "Frozen Fritz", which restores the history of life and death of a person who has spent almost 5300 years in the ice.

Some talk about a kind of "conspiracy" of ancient mummies, recalling the mysterious story of the excavations of the tomb of the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamen. However, whether there is a curse of mummies, we probably never know.

Despite all the rumors associated with Otzi, hundreds of scientists are tirelessly studying the Alpine mummy and gradually getting new interesting results. How many more mysteries does the Tyrolean ice man hide in itself? Quite a lot, in my opinion. And everything needs to be unraveled. We do not want to take. It remains to ask higher powers bit of luck...

The “Ice Man”, Ötzi or Otzi, is an ice mummy of an ancient man, discovered in 1991 in the Tyrolean Alps on the Similaun glacier in the Ötztal valley at an altitude of 3,200 meters. The age of the mummy, determined by radiocarbon dating, is approximately 5300 years. Currently, scientists continue to study the mummy.

1. The hand of the "ice man", lying on a sterile foil.

2. Dutch artists Adrie and Alphonse Kennis used 3-D scans of the Iceman's skeleton to recreate a full-size replica. Scientists first believed that Otzi's eyes were blue, but recent DNA studies have confirmed that the eyes were brown.

3. Shoes of the "ice man" on a glass model.

4. After the mummy was taken to the lab, the researchers raised the temperature to 64 degrees Fahrenheit to thaw the mummy. The melt water was examined for the presence of bacteria, which contributed to the fact that the ancient mummy was so well preserved.

5. After an autopsy that lasted nine hours, the mummy was returned to its original temperature of 21 degrees Fahrenheit and placed in a glass sarcophagus. The research took place at the Museum of Archeology of South Tyrol in Bolzano, Italy.

6. The red arrow points to the place where Ötzi's body was found by two German tourists from Nuremberg in 1991 at an altitude of 3,200 meters. Under Ötzi, stone tools and artifacts from the Neolithic era were found.

7. In the area of ​​​​the knee on the leg of the mummy, a tattoo in the shape of a cross is visible. scientists suggest that these are traces of a kind of ritual aimed at treating arthritis.

8. Reconstruction of the position of the mummy and equipment found with the "ice man". Bundles of two types of tinder fungus were found in the mummy's legs. One of them is a birch tinder fungus, the second is a real tinder fungus. In addition, at the foot of the mummy was a knife and shoes. In addition, a copper axe, two arrows and a cord made of bast wood were found.

9. Dr. Edward Egarter Wigl and colleagues using an endoscope to study the arrowhead, planted in the shoulder of the mummy. The arrow had severed an artery, causing massive blood loss.

10. X-ray of the shoulder of the "ice man", the arrowhead is marked with a red arrow.

11. Scientists spent nine hours studying the mummy, trying to find out the details of the life and death of the "ice man".

12. Fossilized contents of the stomach of the "ice man". Doctors joke that he had a good appetite.

13. Neurosurgeons suggest that shortly before his death, the “ice man” received a head injury.

14. Two types of tinder fungi. Presumably, they were used for medical purposes, including to stop bleeding.

15. Knife and "sheath" of the "ice man".

16. An ax with a copper blade, which indicates that the “ice man” occupied a high position in his tribe.

In 1991, tourists discovered the body of a man who lived about 5,300 years ago on the Similaun Glacier. The body is 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 into the ice was found. At first, no one could even imagine the importance of the find, so they tried to extract the body using ordinary ice axes and a jackhammer, while damaging the mummy's thigh.

Journalists managed to offer 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 of the "Ice Man" - Ötzi. The name was coined by the Viennese reporter Karl Wendl.

Studies have shown that Ötzi's age at the time of his death was about 50 years old. Given that he lived in time, this is a very respectable age. Artists Adris and Alfons Kennis, using computer technology, made an attempt to recreate the appearance of Ötzi. Special studies of his DNA even managed to determine the color of the eyes - they were brown. DNA analysis also helped to determine the color of the hair, they were 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, skin and tendons.

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

In the process of defrosting the mummy, its temperature was gradually raised to room temperature. The melt water was all 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.

Of 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 fungus 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 hide, while the upper part of the shoe was made from deerskin. And instead of socks, Ötzi used soft grass.

Ötzi's mummy on display at the South Tyrol Museum of Archeology in Bolzano, Italy. Inside the sarcophagus, the conditions of the glacier are recreated, which kept the mummy for more than five thousand years.

"Ice man" on the operating table.

The remains of shoes worn by Ötzi.
Right: A photograph indicating the location of the penetration of the stele.

Legs of the Iceman

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

Ice man Ötzi, a mummy frozen in ice. The find was discovered by chance, in the melted glacier of the Ötztal Alps (Tyrol), at an altitude of 3200 meters in the Hauslabjoch saddle near Mount Similaun. Scientists using carbon analysis determined the age of the find - 5300 years. The name of the mummy is given by the place of discovery. Other Names: Otzi, Otzi, Similaunian Man, Tyrolean Iceman, and simply Iceman. These are the most famous, more than 500 names were invented by journalists for this find.

How found

Ötzi was mined without archaeological supervision, by simple enthusiasts and tourists. The work was carried out with the help of a jackhammer and ice axes. And the perfectly preserved mummy (let me remind you that it had safely lain for more than 5,000 years) received its first losses - they injured their hip. With the release of the ice, the mummy's clothes began to be dragged into souvenirs. Well, at least only clothes, next to it was a copper ax, a flint knife, the remains of a duffel bag, and more ...

What to do with the mummy, with the age of 5300 years? Send the body 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 rights to the mummy. The discovery was indeed located on the territory 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 erected at this place.

When Ötzi was found, no one determined 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. In the course of the study, completely different versions appeared. Ötzi looked more like a modern soldier than a pastoralist 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 his death, Ötzi was approximately 165 cm tall, weighed 50 kg, and was 45-46 years old. The found corpse actually weighed 38 kg; the ice that covered the body immediately after death stopped the process of decomposition.

IN last daysÖtzi has done his life big way over difficult terrain. Despite his physical ailments, he was a hardy man. The researchers tracked his path thanks to ... moss. Two types of moss that grow in humid places were found in his stomach (probably ingested with water), and goat meat was wrapped in another type of moss, which was in a backpack. Ötzi descended from the mountains to the Alpine lowlands, collected peat moss, and then went back to the mountains. In 2 days he walked almost 60 kilometers. Remains of bran, roots, fruit, and two types of muscle tissue corresponding to chamois and deer meat were found in the rectum. The last time Ötzi ate was about 8 hours before his death.

Almost every expert who participated in Ötzi's research claims that the story of his assassination will never be fully known. However, there is enough evidence to suggest that Ötzi was killed when he was resting and felt safe. Shot from a bow, then finished off. Probably death came after a blow to the shoulder with a spear. But before that, Ötzi killed himself.

Traces of blood, which was found on the mummy's weapons, tools and clothing, were tested for DNA in 2003. It turned out to be 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 person was found on Ötzi's knife, and traces of a fourth's blood were found on the jacket.

Clothes and weapons

The yew bow found on the mummy was a high-tech weapon for its time, and did not appear en masse in the English army until thousands of years later. Also, Ötzi had a backpack with devices for making fire, canned food, a first aid kit with mass various herbs. The well-armed man was also beautifully dressed: a jacket and trousers made of three layers of leather, lined with felt, a bear's hat, a grass cloak, and insulated leather shoes.

Bearskin hat with leather chin strap. Wide waterproof shoes, apparently, were designed for hiking in the snow. They used bearskin for soles, buckskin for uppers, and bast for lacing. Soft grass was tied around the leg and used as warm socks. The coat, belt, pants, and loincloth were made from strips of leather sewn together with tendons. 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 clothes showed that the skin of a goat, a cow, a 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, bundles of two types of tinder fungus were found among Ötzi's belongings. One of them, birch tinder, has antibacterial properties and was probably used for medicinal purposes. Another species - a real tinder fungus, was part of the steel.

Ötzi's copper ax

When a valuable copper ax was found among the things of Ötzi, he threw many riddles to 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 comes from South Tuscany, in Italy. The results for scientists were surprising and unexpected. Where could this ax come from Ötzi?

Elevated levels of arsenic and copper in Ötzi's hair have led to speculation that he may have forged the weapons himself, inhaling the chemicals during the manufacturing process. However, no contamination with these substances was found in other parts of the body, that is, 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 is 9.5 cm long and consists of 99.7% copper. The carefully polished handle, 60 cm long, is made of yew, to fix the blade on it, it was wrapped with narrow strips of leather. There are also sharpening marks on the ax blade. According to Dr. Gilberto Artioli from the University of Milan, working group Universities of Milan and Trient investigated the copper ax of the "ice man" and some other axes of the same time. Using fast neutrons and high-energy X-rays, it is possible to study the structure of copper crystals inside an ax without damaging the object itself. Differences in the structure of copper crystals allow us to conclude that the thickness of the ax blade has 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, they also served as weapons. This gives reason to think that the "ice man" was either a 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 Iceman, his bone structure 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: the joints were worn out, the 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 broken nose. He also had an injury on his left leg. thumb. The body is covered with tattoos.

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

Researchers have previously theorized about a link between these diseases and tattoos, clustered in 19 locations throughout the body. More specifically, they wondered if this was a prehistoric form of acupuncture. The tattoos weren't pictures 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, then it is 2,000 years older than the earliest records of this type of treatment in China.

The genes of a Copper Age resident cleared up a lot for scientists, but perhaps the most interesting thing was that Ötzi was probably infertile. Today, no one will know if he had a family, but researchers found indicators of infertility in his genes in the mid-2000s.

It is also notable 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.

The scientists performed two types of genetic analysis on Ötzi. Completed in 2008 full analysis mummy's mitochondrial DNA, and now, almost four years later, they have published the results of an analysis of nuclear DNA, a rarer and harder-to-find part of the human genome.

Geneticists have found that Ötzi was closer in kinship to the 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).