Posted on 07/15/2018 5:56:09 AM PDT by ETL
A mere 2 hours before his grisly murder about 5,300 years ago, Ötzi the iceman chowed down on some mouthwatering morsels: wild meat from ibex and red deer, cereals from einkorn wheat and — oddly enough — poisonous fern, a new study finds.
It's unclear why Ötzi ate the toxic fern, known as bracken (Pteridium aquilinum). But it's possible that he used the fern to wrap his food, almost like a piece of plastic wrap, and then unintentionally ingested some of the toxic spores the fern left behind, said study co-senior researcher Albert Zink, head of the Eurac Research Institute for Mummy Studies in Bolzano, Italy.
Or perhaps Ötzi ate the fern as a type of medicine to treat his intestinal parasites, Zink said..."
This discovery comes from the first in-depth study of the iceman mummy's stomach. German hikers found the frozen remains while hiking in the Italian Alps in 1991. Since then, researchers have gleaned details about Ötzi's life by studying his remains and belongings — including that Ötzi had 61 tattoos, arthritis, bad teeth and a possible case of Lyme disease. Researchers even found that Ötzi had sharpened his tools days before his murder. ..."
One thing was certain: Ötzi's diet was heavy in fat, but this wasn't from cheese, as researchers previously guessed, said Zink and study co-senior researcher Frank Maixner, a microbiologist at the Eurac Research Institute for Mummy Studies. Rather, the fat came from an animal Ötzi had recently consumed, likely the ibex (Capra ibex), Zink said.
This finding made sense, as earlier research revealed that Ötzi had lactose intolerance and thus had trouble eating dairy products, Zink added. The iceman likely needed the calories from this fatty meal to help him scale the Alps, where he lived, the researchers said.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
A ‘possible’ case of Lyme disease??? Lactose intolerant???
Seriously?
They didn’t invent Lyme disease until 1975, and Lactose intolerance wasn’t invented until the 1960s... Cavemen shouldn’t be diagnosed with diseases that didn’t exist when they did.
A paleo diet was trendy with cavemen. Who would have guessed?
Re the fat: when I started calculating every morsel going into my mouth I was astonished to find that my diet each day is over 50% fat. Even when I was losing weight steadily. Fat does NOT make you fat.
His diet sounds ideal, though I don’t understand the fern either, makes sense that it might be some medicine.
They can do whatever they want with this meat sack after I’m done with it, as long as it doesn’t cost my family a lot and especially if they make a little from it.
God will patch it up better than the way it was born before He hands it back to me in the Last Day.
Lyme disease, not Limey disease.
Or poison. Maybe that’s what killed him. Someone slipped some poison fern into his meal at a gathering. Presto new clan leader.
You’re all wrong about Otzi’s demise. He was Vince Fostered by an ancestor of Hillary’s; the Alos were the Ft. Marcy Park if the day. As to the poisonous fern, well...the poor b@stard also pissed off one of Putin’s ancestors.
Alps, not Alos. Fat fingers.
Lol!
Some of the tatoos were ACUPUNCUTURE spots for various treatments....
Lol!
During my long life and world travels, I managed to accumulate a large collection of spear points/arrowheads I picked up along the way, and what puzzles me till today is that some of the spear points/arrowheads I picked up in Peru and Bolivia are indistinguishable from some I picked up in Afghanistan and Pakistan: identical shape, size, and knapping technique.
Maybe he used the fern to wrap his food before he microwaved it.
We just visited the museum and he was carrying more stuff than my wife after a 50% sale!
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