The world's oldest mummy, the Italian Iceman known as Otzi,
is shown in this undated file photo. Otzi died from a
shoulder wound inflicted by an arrow, according to research
into his perfectly preserved 5,000-year old body.
(Werner Nosko/Reuters)
Posted on 06/06/2007 9:43:47 AM PDT by Pharmboy
The world's oldest mummy, the Italian Iceman known as Otzi,
is shown in this undated file photo. Otzi died from a
shoulder wound inflicted by an arrow, according to research
into his perfectly preserved 5,000-year old body.
(Werner Nosko/Reuters)
Italy's prehistoric iceman "Otzi" died from a shoulder wound inflicted by an arrow, according to research into his perfectly preserved 5,000-year old body.
Otzi, the oldest mummy unearthed, was found in the Italian Alps in 1991 wearing clothing made from leather and grasses and carrying a copper axe, a bow and arrows.
Though Otzi's body underwent several scientific tests to study life in the prehistoric age, it had so far been unclear whether he died from an arrow wound, a bad fall or severe freezing while climbing the high mountains.
Using modern X-ray technology, however, an Italian-Swiss research team said on Wednesday it had proved the cause of death as a lesion on an artery close to the shoulder, caused by an arrowhead that remains in the iceman's back.
A large haematoma -- or a collection of blood due to internal bleeding -- could also be seen in the surrounding tissue, and the iceman probably died shortly after the lesion was caused, researchers concluded.
Researchers had previously suggested he was killed by a rival hunter after putting up a fight, and concluded that his final meals consisted of venison and ibex meat.
The latest results on the research appeared online in the Journal of Archaeological Science and will be published in the National Geographic next month.
Interesting. I would have thought he would have been an Rb1 M343 like certain people I know. I would have thought wrong.
Well, you make a good point since we have much evidence that both neandertals and Cro-Magnon buried their dead ceremonially.
Thank you ... glad that I could provoke a thought or two.
Ban assault bows!
The Italians built a special museum for Oetzi--The South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology. Oetzi took up residence there after the Italians won the custody battle for him.
Yep.
I, and 90% of other people of this day and age wouldn’t last an hour in those conditions.
Hell, even with $4000 worth of modern winter hiking gear, I still wouldn’t last a day.
substandard body armor
I really appreciate the link to the museum — I didn’t know what they had done and was obviously too lazy to do a search and find out. Anyway, I am a bit uncomfortable with his body laying in display through a window as they have it. Maybe it’s just me, but I would hate to think that someone would find me or one of my relatives in the next millennium and display the remains as they have done to the iceman. Thanks again for the info.
ROTFLMAO
Yeh, it’s a little weird but not nearly so macrabre as powdered mummy.
http://www.scienceandsociety.co.uk/results.asp?image=10317075&wwwflag=2&imagepos=1
Lots more Oetzi info here:
http://www.mummytombs.com/otzi/news.htm
It was probably Otzi’s fault. His lifestyle must have offended his assailent. He should have negoatiated permissionto hunt for food.
Well just because someone is dead doesnt mean they stop voting Democrat. In fact Edwards is glad he is dead since the dead overwhelmingly vote Democrat. Plus he was armed so he was probably a dumb flag waving republican hillbilly
Studies have shown that cavemen who keep a bow in their cave are 47 times more likely to commit suicide or kill a family member than cavemen who do not store bows in their cave
Do you know how hard it is to bludgeon yourself to death with a rock?
Bull.
They are closer with this than with their earlier theories, but this is still bull.
I don't know why archeologists and anthropologists continue to believe that early man was peaceful and in tune with nature, but they do.
When this first came out, they were speculating that he was a trader who died after a fall in the alps. After all, he was from Southern Germany, but he had some scraps of food from Northern Italy in a bag.
But this is nonsense. Otzi was a raider, plain and simple. I said this when it happened to a archeology group at a local university and was asked not to come back because I believed in violence.
But the fact is he suffered, and recovered from, several battle type wounds. He had tatoos over several of the wound areas, a very common form of mystical protection for primative man.
No, Otzi's last days happened like this...
His group of raiders stormed into the village that they were targeting and killed all who resisted them. They stole any goods, weapons and food that they could carry, and took back young women as slaves. Otzi was shot by an arrow during the attack, but was able to continue on with his group.
A few days into their walk back to their home, Otzi (who was suffering a lot of pain and had developed a fever a few hours after the attack) collapsed and lay dying. His fellow warriors took all of his food, his tool, extra clothing, etc. and watched him die. Afterwards they put him in a narrow gully with his copper axe and bow (but no arrows) and covered him with his wooden shield. They then covered him with snow so that animals wouldn't find and eat him.
That is how he was found with a copper axe (his rival hunter wouldn't have taken that valuable piece of equipment? Really?) and no food or other items of value.
One of my pet peeves with the paleoanthros is their referral to paleolithic weapons as "tools."
“He might have been running away since he was hit in the back”
Not enough evidence to make any conclusion.
He could have been sitting at a campfire or taking a leak when he was hit by the arrow. He may have been pursueing one attacker when another outflanked him. There are an infinate number of scenarios.
Yep—that’s why I wrote “might.” Thanks for your comment, though, as additional scenarios help keep everyone’s mind open.
Well then we should ban “Assault Rocks”
You know rocks with scary looking features such as black plastic, pistol grips, bayonet lugs or flash hiders. We should also prohibit someone from carrying ten or more rocks at once ITS FOR THE CHILDREN
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