This is the story of a mummy

This is the story of Ötzi, the Iceman who was murdered more than 5000 years ago. His body was found 30 years ago preserved amazingly well, in the Alps bordering Austria and Italy. This is the story of Europe's 'Most Famous Mummy'.

Today, Ötzi is housed at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Italy, where his remains are kept at a constant temperature of –21.2 degrees Fahrenheit. In an average year, about 300,000 visitors travel to Bolzano to marvel at the ancient human.

Ötzi was wiry, short (5’2”), and about 46 years old when he died. He was left-handed, had brown eyes and dark brown hair, and he had a typical Mediterranean skin tone. Ötzi was found wearing only a single shoe. His leggings and coats were pieced together from the hides of local sheep and goats.

His shoes were stuffed with wild grass and laced with leather. His fur hat was from a brown bear. The Iceman carried a wood-frame backpack and a deerskin quiver with arrow shafts. His dagger was sharpened.

One of the most important objects is Ötzi’s copper axe. Secured to a wooden handle with cow leather, the blade was cast from a mold and is 99.7% pure copper. It was an extraordinarily wealthy item for the time, and its discovery pushed back the European Copper Age by a 1000 years.

In the hours before his death, Ötzi had a hearty meal of wheat, red deer, and ibex (a mountain goat). A gash between the thumb and index finger of his right hand revealed that Ötzi had been stabbed a few days before he died. Then he was attacked again ..

.. with an arrow that hit an artery in his left shoulder, and it seems he bled to death within minutes. The Iceman also had substantial brain haemorrhaging. Did someone kill him off with a final blow to the head? This is a mystery still unsolved.

The museum receives 10-15 requests every year to study Ötzi. His 5000 year old genome was decoded in 2012, and recently researchers have been able to reconstruct his gut microbiome. Technological & medical advances in the future can likely help unfold more of the fascinating Iceman's secrets.

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