Posted on 01/04/2005 12:42:21 PM PST by SteveH
Theory: Oetzi Murdered in Power Play
By Rossella Lorenzi, Discovery News
Jan. 4, 2005
Ötzi the Iceman, the world's oldest and best-preserved mummy, might have been murdered in a struggle for power, according to a new theory that identifies the 5,300-year-old mummy as the powerful leader of a Neolithic community.
Discovered in 1991 in a melting glacier in the Ötztal Alps — hence the name — by the German hiker Helmut Simon, Ötzi is thought to have died at about 45.
He was hit by an arrowhead while being assaulted by his enemies, some of whose blood was found on the mummy's cloak and weapons.
"Ötzi was a leader, perhaps a shaman. He might have gotten many enemies as he did not want to give up his power even though he was very old, a sort of Methuselah for his time," Walter Leitner, an expert at the Institute for Ancient and Early History at the University of Innsbruck, told Discovery News.
Leitner presented his new theory at a recent archaeological conference in Hannover, Germany.
According to Leitner, a member of the team who studied the mummy when it was first transferred to the University of Innsbruck, Ötzi's high social status is testified by the items he carried with him. .
As he emerged from the ice, the mummy was still wearing goatskin leggings and a grass cape, while a copper-headed axe, a quiver full of arrows and a medicine kit with herbal remedies were lying nearby.
"Only a leader would have owned a copper axe. Copper was very precious and a symbol of power at that time," Leitner said.
According to his reconstruction, the Iceman was assaulted not far from the Similaun Glacier where his mummified body was found.
The assailants kept Ötzi at a distance because they were afraid of him, Leitner said. One attacker hit him with an arrow in the back, near his left shoulder, others threw more arrows at him, while another one got closer and hit Ötzi's right hand with a knife.
"Then the attackers removed the arrow from Ötzi's shoulder and left him there. As they came back to the village, the murderers said that the old man got lost in the mountains. For this reason, they did not steal his precious axe. It had to look like an accident, not a murder," Leitner said.
His theory contrasts with that one of Eduard Egarter Vigl, the official caretaker of the 5,300-year-old mummy at the South Tyrol Archaeological Museum in Bolzano, which attracts around 300,000 visitors a year.
The researcher believes Ötzi did manage to flee up the mountain until he collapsed and was entombed in the Similaun Glacier's ice.
Probably caught in a storm at 10,000 feet, the right hand cut to the tendons and the left arm possibly bent in the effort to stop the blood, Ötzi spent at least three days in excruciating pain before he died, according to Egarter, who carried out histological and biochemical analysis on the deep knife wound.
"The presence of haemosiderin containing macrophages in skin wounds would indicate that the injury happened between three to eight days before Ötzi's death. Most likely, he managed to escape in the mountains and there he died after a few days because of blood loss, hunger, cold and weakness," Egarter told Discovery News.
But according to Leitner, it would be highly unlikely for Ötzi to climb up the mountains with an arrow deep inside his shoulder.
"I based my theory on the archaeological finds and some logic. I know the Ötztal Alps pretty well and I believe that a man wounded so badly would have tried to escape going downhill, not up in the mountains," Leitner said.
Curse of Ötzi?
The same Ötztal Alps were fatal to Helmut Simon, whose body was found trapped in ice last October just like his famous find. Simon's death strengthened the legend of a "Ötzi curse", according to the German magazine Die Zeit.
Three other people who had a direct contact with the mummy died under mysterious circumstances in the past years.
The first one was Guenter Henn, the forensic pathologist who picked the mummy from the snow with naked hands. A year later, Henn died in a head-on collision while on his way to present "sensational findings" on the mummy at a conference.
Shortly after, it was the time of Kurt Fritz, the mountain guide who dug into the ice to bring to light the mummy's face. Fritz was the only one out of a group of climbers killed in an avalanche on a slope he was very familiar with.
The third victim, who died of a brain tumor, was Rainer Hoelzl, the only journalist allowed to film the removal of the mummy from the ice for a TV documentary.
As if that wasn't enough, Dieter Warnecke, head of the rescue service who found Simon's frozen body, died of a heart attack an hour after Simon's funeral.
"I do not believe in the curse, but I was a bit nervous last October when I worked on a documentary on the mummy and had to be rescued from the Similaun glacier with an helicopter," Leitner said.
GGG Ping.
If you're referring to the theory, I think it's connected to archeologists' evidently innate drive to recreate more culture from less artifacts... ;-)
Yup. They sure went on a flight of fancy with the copper axe, huh?
BTW, that copper axe pushed the copper age back 1,000 years.
They call him old because he is 45. The life span (a statistical average) then may have been very short, but that does not translate into 45 year-old men being old. A copper (heavy and soft metal) axe would be wonderful in stage shows or ceremonies but not useful in any sort of practical application, a strong stick would have been a better weapon. The current climate was likely not the same as it was then. He could have likely been not running away, but rather ambushed by "highwaymen."
IMHO, speculation (mine as well) by the experts is what gives archaeology a bad name.
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest -- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)
Kinda noticeable that all these dudes look pretty much the same.
It is difficult to defend yourself when you're down one skater.
YUP. IMO, it's what most Asians looked like 6-8,000 years ago.
I think he was a retired copper smelter and this ax was the equivalent to our gold watch.
With any luck, I'll get to visit him this summer.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.