What Otzi the Iceman's Tattoos Reveal About Copper Age Medical Practices

Smithsonian ^ | September 10, 2018 | Meilan Solly

[SunkenCiv]

Three decades worth of research have yielded intimate details of Ötzi's life from his age, height and weight to manner of death -- felled by an arrow to the left shoulder sometime during early summer...

Now, a team of European researchers has analyzed the tattoos scattered across Ötzi's body, as well as the various herbs and medicines found alongside his remains, to paint a clearer picture of the Iceman's community and its ancient medical practices, reports Joshua Rapp Learn for Science magazine...

Previous studies of the Iceman's tattoos have hypothesized that the lines and crosses etched into his skin offered therapeutic benefits rather than simply serving as decorative embellishments. As Ancient Origins' April Holloway writes, the tattoos, which were created via small incisions traced with charcoal, align with "hard-working areas of the human body," including the ankles, wrists, knees and lower back. These spots are commonly associated with acupuncture treatments, raising the possibility that Ötzi's community knew of the practice some 2,000 years before it was believed to have first emerged in Asia.

Archaeologists initially mapped all of Ötzi's 61 inkings in 2015, Carl Engelking reports for Discover magazine. Prior to this examination, researchers thought the Iceman's tattoos numbered closer to 59. Multispectral imaging analysis revealed a set of previously unidentified tattoos clustered on the Iceman's chest, an area commonly associated with acupuncture points targeting intestinal disorders...

Plants found amongst the Iceman's belongings support the study's portrait of an inquisitive, complex society. Birch polypore fungus tied to the leather bands of Ötzi's tools may have calmed inflammation or acted as an antibiotic, Science's Rapp Learn notes, while bracken fern detected in his stomach could have served as a tapeworm treatment. Traces of bog moss mirror makeshift bandages.

[SunkenCiv]

The Iceman's tattoos align with classic acupuncture points, and the plants found amongst his belongings have well-known medical applications (© South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology/EURAC/Samadelli/Staschitz)

[SunkenCiv]

[EURASLEEP]

I visited the Ötzi Museum in Bolzano last year. Very well done exhibit, and I can highly recommend it.

[SunkenCiv]

• Scan finds new tattoos on 5300-year-old Iceman [01/24/2015 3:22:29 PM PST]
• Anthropologists Have Mapped All 61 Tattoos On Ötzi The Iceman [01/29/2015 7:56:36 AM PST]
• New study of Iceman reveals oldest known example of red blood cells [05/09/2015 9:34:00 PM PDT]
• The Iceman's Stomach Bugs Offer Clues to Ancient Human Migration [01/07/2016 7:00:24 PM PST]
• DNA traces Iceman's ragtag wardrobe [08/18/2016 7:12:17 AM PDT]
• Who Killed the Iceman? Clues Emerge in a Very Cold Case [03/27/2017 7:55:08 PM PDT]
• Otzi the iceman really was killed by an ARROW: Europe's oldest mummy (tr) [01/05/2018 11:28:22 PM PST]
• Ancient 'Iceman' shows signs of a well-balanced last meal [07/12/2018 5:57:30 PM PDT]
• What Ötzi the Iceman ate before he was murdered [07/15/2018 5:56:09 AM PDT]

[SunkenCiv]

If they put in a tattoo parlor now, they could clean up!

[SunkenCiv]

The four Oetzi-specific keywords, chaff out, duplicates out.

• What Otzi the Iceman's Tattoos Reveal About Copper Age Medical Practices [2018]
• Otzi the iceman really was killed by an ARROW: Europe's oldest mummy (tr) [2018]
• The Iceman's Stomach Bugs Offer Clues to Ancient Human Migration [2016]
• New study of Iceman reveals oldest known example of red blood cells [2015]
• Anthropologists Have Mapped All 61 Tattoos On Ötzi The Iceman [2015]
• Scan finds new tattoos on 5300-year-old Iceman [2015]
• Ötzi's non-human DNA: Opportunistic pathogen discovered in Iceman tissue biopsy [2014]
• Chalcolithic catastrophe on the Mondsee [2014]
• Positioning the Red Deer (Cervus elaphus) Hunted by the Tyrolean Iceman... [2014]
• Two unknown soldiers (discovered in the Presena Glacier in the Italian Alps) [2013]
• Scientists say Ötzi the Iceman has living relatives, 5,300 years later [2013]
• Living Relatives Of Iceman Mummy Found (Ötzi, 5,300 Years Old) [2013]
• Otzi's Neandertal ancestry [2013]
• Iceman Mummy Finds His Closest Relatives [2012]
• Otzi the Iceman: scientists find 5,000-year-old blood sample [2012]
• Ötzi the ice mummy's secrets found in DNA [2012]
• Ice Mummy May Have Smashed Eye in Fall [2011]
• Iceman Autopsy [2011]
• Iceman stories begin arriving! [2011]
• Iceman's 'Girlfriend' Found [ Lady of Introd ] [2011]
• Iceman's Stomach Sampled -- Filled With Goat Meat [2011]
• Scientists finally determine iceman Otzi's last meal [Ice Man] [2011]
• The Iceman's Last Meal [2011]
• Artists Recreate the Face Otzi, a 5,300-Year-Old Iceman Mummy [2011]
• Iceman Oetzi gets a new face for 20th anniversary [2011]
• Oetzi, the Iceman, was ceremonially buried: archaeologist [2010]
• Otzi's secrets about to be revealed [2010]
• Nanostructure of 5,000-year-old mummy skin reveals insight into mummification process [Oetzi] [2010]
• Ötzi the iceman: Up close and personal [2009]
• Pile village fortification found on Lake Biel [3,200 BC] [2009]
• Doctors prove that the Iceman was shot to death in the Alps [ Oetzi ] [2009]
• Iceman Oetzi's Last Supper [2008]
• Scientists believe 5,300-year-old mummified 'ice man' belonged to unknown branch of human fam. tree [2008]
• Ancient iceman probably has no modern relatives [2008]
• Prehistoric Disaster: An Alpine Pompeii from the Stone Age [2008]
• Iceman's DNA Linked To Coastal Aboriginals (Canada) [2008]
• Alpine Guardians Try To Put Treasures On Ice [2008]
• Scientists Tantalize With 'Iceman' Findings (Canada) [2008]
• Researcher's Say Italy's 5,000-Year-Old Iceman Died From Head Trauma, Not Arrow (Oetzi) [2007]
• Scientists say 'Iceman' died from arrow [2007]
• Tattoos - The Ancient And Mysterious History [2007]
• Alpine ice man may have been childless outcast [2006]
• Infertility link in iceman's DNA [2006]
• Death Renews Iceman 'Curse' Claim (Oetzi) [2005]
• 'Iceman' (Oetzi) Might Be Contaminated [2005]
• Theory: Iceman Oetzi Wore High-Tech Shoes [2005]
• Alpine Iceman (Oetzi) Reveals Stone Age Secrets [2005]
• 'Iceman' discoverer joins his find in Alpine grave [2004]
• Finder of Tyrol "Iceman" missing in Alps [2004]
• After 5,000 Years, the Mystery Of Fritz Just Won't End [2004]
• Iceman (Oetzi) Discoverer Claims Reward [2003]
• Was Ancient Alpine "Iceman" Killed in Battle? [2003]
• Iceman's bones lead scientists to his home turf [2003]
• Iceman Found in Italy Didn't Wander Far [2003]
• Italy's 5,000-Year-Old Iceman Put Up a Fight [DNA of 4 foes, venison and ibex his final meal] [2003]
• DNA reveals how the Italian Iceman went down fighting [2003]
• 'Iceman' was murdered, science sleuths say [2003]
• Secrets Of A Stone Age Rambo (Otzi, The Iceman) [2003]
• Dozens of women want Bronze Age hunter's babies [2003]

[Vendome]

He looks like a meth addict

[thoughtomator]

An arrow to the knee would have been more fitting.

[Dr. Ursus]

Yes, we visited this year and was well worth it.

[Sacajaweau]

Listening to a comedian on an old Carson Show: “It amazes me how and anthropologist can find a finger bone and declare that “he liked to dance”.....

[niteowl77]

... felled by an arrow to the left shoulder... acupuncture points targeting intestinal disorders... inflammation... antibiotic... tapeworm treatment... makeshift bandages...

"Nasty, brutish and short."

[KingLudd]

News? I read this about the iceman more than 20 years ago.

[SteveH]

Are medical tattoos covered by ObamaCare?

[babble-on]

He was killed by someone he knew. He was trying to escape his own village for some reason and was shot in the back. The killer did not take the copper axe that would have been enormously valuable, because everyone would have known whose axe it was and how the new bearer came to have it.

[bgill]

Actually, his name is Bob.

[SunkenCiv]

Yeah, I saw that little oval tag sewed on his coat, over his left pocket.

[SunkenCiv]

Whoops, forgot about:

http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/oetzi/index

[wildbill]

enter him in the Ink Master competition. High marks for the staying power of the tattoos without fade.

[SunkenCiv]

:^)