Credit: ©South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology/Eurac/Samadelli/Staschitz
Posted on 01/24/2015 3:22:29 PM PST by SunkenCiv
A new study has used advanced imaging techniques to identify previously unknown tattoos on the ribcage of the 5300-year old man known as Ötzi, bringing his total number of tattoos to 61...
Thanks to more than two decades of analysis, scientists arguably know more about Ötzi's health and final days than those of any other ancient human. He died at around 45 years of age after being shot in the back with a stone-tipped arrow and bludgeoned. In the 12 hours preceding his death he climbed into the mountains from an Italian valley, and ate a last meal consisting of grains and ibex meat. Ötzi suffered a variety of ailments, including advanced gum disease, gallbladder stones, lyme disease, whipworms in his colon, and atherosclerosis. Researchers have sequenced Ötzi's entire genome, identified a genetic predisposition to heart disease, and determined that he has 19 surviving male relatives in his genetic lineage. However, a new study shows the Iceman still has secrets left to reveal.
Ötzi was tattooed, and offers the earliest direct evidence that tattooing was practiced in Europe by at least the Chalcolithic period. However, until now it has been difficult to conclusively catalog all of his marks. Ötzi's epidermis naturally darkened from prolonged exposure to sub-zero temperatures as he lay beneath the glacier, and as a result some of his tattoos became faint or invisible to the naked eye. Consequently previous studies have identified between 47 and 60 tattoos on the Iceman's body...
The researchers first slightly thawed Ötzi's body, which is ordinarily kept at 21.2 °F, in order to eliminate the ice layer from his skin. On reaching 29.2 °F, he was photographed from all sides using a modified 36 MP digital SLR camera...
(Excerpt) Read more at redorbit.com ...
Credit: ©South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology/Eurac/Samadelli/Staschitz
Seems like a great topic for the weekly Digest ping.
Aaron Deter-Wolf
You can follow his research at http://tdoa.academia.edu/AaronDeterWolf
The tattoo written in Celtic runes translates to “I want my mummy”
My momma always said not to hang out with people with tattoos, because they get into trouble. Another example she was right.
Otzi had a tramp stamp?
He had 61, he joined a new gang in every collection of hovels he encountered. ;’)
5300 years old, and still getting new tattoos.
All the cool kids were doing it during the Bronze Age.
-——he joined a new gang——
0r, he was shot by lawmen after he escaped from prison
"Whoever did this to my face ruined my life."
In spite of all that he was still hiking at high altitude, hunting and carrying a good sized pack. I guess you did what you had to do 5,000 years ago but it seems like he was a pretty tough guy.
Is that a deformed and shriveled left arm I see in the pic?
...or his just happy to see us? ;’) Yeah, it’s his arm, it’s basically permanently stuck to the torso.
He didn’t have to like it, he just had to do it. :’) He died in hiding of wounds suffered by attacks, or at least, that was the most recent view.
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