New DNA Study Examines Ötzi the Iceman's Neighbors

Archaeology Magazine ^ | July 25, 2025 | editors / unattributed

[SunkenCiv]

When the well-preserved body of the famous Ötzi the Iceman was recovered from the ice in the Austrian-Italian Alps in 1991, his remains provided archaeologists with a wealth of information about life in Europe more than 5,000 years ago. Surprisingly, sequencing of his genome indicated that he shared a very high proportion of his ancestry with early farmers who lived in Anatolia. Science News Today reports that a groundbreaking new study analyzed the DNA of 47 other individuals who lived alongside Ötzi in the Austrian Tyrol between 6400 and 1300 b.c. to determine if they shared genomic similarities. The research indicated that, like Ötzi, 80 to 90 percent of these individuals' ancestry came from Neolithic farmers who had migrated to Europe during the Neolithic period. The results also showed that after that time, there was a remarkable genetic stability over two millennia, and that communities in the Alps were not affected genetically by waves of immigrants and newcomers like in the rest of Europe. Like the Iceman, they also had dark hair, dark eyes, and were lactose intolerant. However, Ötzi's genetic background has now proved to be unique, as his paternal lineage did not match that of any of the other 47 individuals. Moreover, his maternal lineage does not match that of any known population in Europe, modern or ancient. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Nature Communications. To read more about study of Ötzi, go to "What Ailed the Iceman?"

[SunkenCiv]

• Iceman Reborn: A 5,000-Year-Old Murder Mystery [02/04/2024]
• Genome Study Reveals That Iceman Ötzi Had Dark Skin and Male Pattern Baldness [08/24/2023]
• New research on 5300-year-old Ötzi suggests there could be more ice mummies out there [11/12/2022]
• Scientists reconstruct Ötzi the Iceman's frantic final climb [07/30/2021]
• Who Was The The Mysterious Lady Of Bietikow And What Had She In Common With Ötzi Iceman? [11/07/2020]
• Study Backs 5th-Century Historian's Date for Founding of Armenia [08/15/2020]
• Timothy Hutton Accused of Raping 14-Year-Old Girl in 1983 (Report) [03/02/2020]
• Scientists identify 5,300 year-old sinew bowstring used by Otzi the Iceman [01/12/2020]
• Alongside Otzi the Iceman: a bounty of ancient mosses and liverworts [11/03/2019]
• Otzi the Iceman's tools tell a story of desperation [04/08/2019]
• What Otzi the Iceman's Tattoos Reveal About Copper Age Medical Practices [09/21/2018]
• Salt of the Alps: ancient Austrian mine holds Bronze Age secrets [08/24/2018]
• What Ötzi the Iceman ate before he was murdered [07/15/2018]
• Ancient 'Iceman' shows signs of a well-balanced last meal [07/12/2018]
• Otzi the iceman really was killed by an ARROW: Europe's oldest mummy (tr) [01/05/2018]
• Who Killed the Iceman? Clues Emerge in a Very Cold Case [03/27/2017]
• The Iceman's Stomach Bugs Offer Clues to Ancient Human Migration [01/07/2016]
• New study of Iceman reveals oldest known example of red blood cells [05/09/2015]
• Anthropologists Have Mapped All 61 Tattoos On Ötzi The Iceman [01/29/2015]
• Scan finds new tattoos on 5300-year-old Iceman [01/24/2015]
• Ötzi's non-human DNA: Opportunistic pathogen discovered in Iceman tissue biopsy [07/27/2014]
• Chalcolithic catastrophe on the Mondsee [07/15/2014]
• Positioning the Red Deer (Cervus elaphus) Hunted by the Tyrolean Iceman... [07/15/2014]
• Scientists say Ötzi the Iceman has living relatives, 5,300 years later [10/16/2013]
• Living Relatives Of Iceman Mummy Found (Ötzi, 5,300 Years Old) [10/14/2013]
• Alpine Archaeology Reveals High Life Through the Ages [09/28/2013]
• Otzi's Neandertal ancestry [05/18/2013]
• Iceman Mummy Finds His Closest Relatives [11/11/2012]
• Massive Gold Trove Sparks Archeological Dispute [06/21/2012]
• Otzi the Iceman: scientists find 5,000-year-old blood sample [05/03/2012]
• Ötzi the ice mummy's secrets found in DNA [02/29/2012]
• Ice Mummy May Have Smashed Eye in Fall [12/05/2011]
• Iceman Autopsy [10/29/2011]
• Iceman's 'Girlfriend' Found [ Lady of Introd ] [07/25/2011]
• Iceman's Stomach Sampled -- Filled With Goat Meat [06/28/2011]
• Scientists finally determine iceman Otzi's last meal [Ice Man] [06/22/2011]
• The Iceman's Last Meal [06/20/2011]
• Artists Recreate the Face Otzi, a 5,300-Year-Old Iceman Mummy [02/25/2011]
• Iceman Oetzi gets a new face for 20th anniversary [02/21/2011]
• Oetzi, the Iceman, was ceremonially buried: archaeologist [08/27/2010]
• Otzi's secrets about to be revealed [07/27/2010]
• Nanostructure of 5,000-year-old mummy skin reveals insight into mummification process [Oetzi] [04/22/2010]
• Oetzi the iceman: Up close and personal [06/06/2009]
• Pile village fortification found on Lake Biel [3,200 BC] [05/15/2009]
• Doctors prove that the Iceman was shot to death in the Alps [ Oetzi ] [01/28/2009]
• Iceman Oetzi's Last Supper [12/01/2008]
• Scientists believe 5,300-year-old mummified 'ice man' belonged to unknown branch of human fam. tree [10/31/2008]
• Ancient iceman probably has no modern relatives [10/30/2008]
• Prehistoric Disaster: An Alpine Pompeii from the Stone Age [10/11/2008]
• Archaeologists find bones from prehistoric war in Germany [10/11/2008]
• Iceman's DNA Linked To Coastal Aboriginals (Canada) [04/26/2008]
• Alpine Guardians Try To Put Treasures On Ice [04/17/2008]
• Scientists Tantalize With 'Iceman' Findings (Canada) [04/04/2008]
• Researcher's Say Italy's 5,000-Year-Old Iceman Died From Head Trauma, Not Arrow (Oetzi) [08/29/2007]
• Scientists say 'Iceman' died from arrow [06/07/2007]
• Tattoos - The Ancient And Mysterious History [01/03/2007]
• An ancient art becomes mainstream: The acceptance of tattoo art helps remove former stigma [07/26/2006]
• Alpine ice man may have been childless outcast [02/03/2006]
• Infertility link in iceman's DNA [02/03/2006]
• Death Renews Iceman 'Curse' Claim (Oetzi) [11/05/2005]
• 'Iceman' (Oetzi) Might Be Contaminated [06/14/2005]
• Theory: Iceman Oetzi Wore High-Tech Shoes [03/02/2005]
• Alpine Iceman (Oetzi) Reveals Stone Age Secrets [02/17/2005]
• 'Iceman' discoverer joins his find in Alpine grave [10/23/2004]
• Finder of Tyrol "Iceman" missing in Alps [10/18/2004]
• Once welcomed, Boston archbishop now sees goodwill evaporate with parish closings [09/27/2004]
• Hillary wild over Bill's new blond? (Paper claims Canadian conservative "friendly" with Bubba) [02/07/2004]
• After 5,000 Years, the Mystery Of Fritz Just Won't End [02/03/2004]
• Iceman (Oetzi) Discoverer Claims Reward [12/22/2003]
• Was Ancient Alpine "Iceman" Killed in Battle? [11/02/2003]
• Iceman's bones lead scientists to his home turf [10/31/2003]
• Iceman Found in Italy Didn't Wander Far [10/30/2003]
• Italy's 5,000-Year-Old Iceman Put Up a Fight [DNA of 4 foes, venison and ibex his final meal] [08/14/2003]
• DNA reveals how the Italian Iceman went down fighting [08/12/2003]
• 'Iceman' was murdered, science sleuths say [08/12/2003]
• Ice Man Cometh - From Italy (Oetzi) [07/26/2003]
• Secrets Of A Stone Age Rambo (Otzi, The Iceman) [05/05/2003]
• Dozens of women want Bronze Age hunter's babies [04/25/2003]

[SunkenCiv]

[BenLurkin]

One of them did it.

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

What’s crazy is humans lived like this guy for tens of thousands of years if not 100,000 plus years and all of a sudden in a mere blink of an eye by comparison we have this insane tech world, cars, planes, computers, AC, phones, medicine. What changed? Agriculture?

[tumblindice]

Judge: Mr. Cirroc, are you ready to give your summation?

Cirroc: [ stepping out] It’s just “Cirroc”, your Honor..and, yes, I’m ready. [ approaches the jury box ]
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I’m just a caveman. I fell on some ice and later got thawed out by some of your scientists. Your world frightens and confuses me! Sometimes the honking horns of your traffic make me want to get out of my BMW.. and runoff into the hills, or wherever.. Sometimes when I get a message on my fax machine, I wonder: “Did little demons get inside and type it?” I don’t know!My primitive mind can’t grasp these concepts.
But there is one thing I do know – when a man like my client slips and falls on a sidewalk in front of a public library, then he is entitled to no less than two million in compensatory damages, and two million in punitive damages.Thank you.

[crusher2013]

“What changed? Agriculture?”

Agriculture, Writing, Scence, Wide dissemination of knowledge (Printing Press, The steam engine. (Unlimited power compared to muscles).

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

Incredible. Amazing how this all happened in a few hundred years as if something woke up.

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

Did Ötzi have a last name? Ozbourne?

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

We learned to make the world work for us.

For millennia we ground our grain with water wheels. But then one day someone said what if we hooked it up to a spindle and it spun yarn, or ran a billows that sent air into a forge and, oh! What if we made the waterwheel run a BIG hammer so we could work a bunch of metal all at once.

The water wheel, the forge, the horse collar, suddenly rather then having to spend our lives doing the basics we could spend it doing the more advanced things.

Instead of us fighting the world it was now doing our hard labor.

[jmacusa]

Most likely agriculture as humans began to live and work in societies. I believe archaeologist’s say farming and such organized society began in what is now Iraq.

[jmacusa]

Yeah no doubt. They had eyes on his goat.

[Nachoman]

What changed? Agriculture?

I'm not saying it was aliens, but...

[Larry Lucido]

:-)

“Hey, Otzi, we’re headed out for a drink. You going with us?”

“Yes, yes. The iceman cometh!”

[Beowulf9]

😆

[gundog]

Drinks are on Hickey!

[Does so]

“What changed?”
.
Communities of very smart people—even geniuses?

“Punctuated-Equilibria” of brainy people?

[minnesota_bound]

#4 Aliens. It was aliens. After a crashed alien spacecraft we have learned alot and we have only scratched the surface of their tech....

[minnesota_bound]

#4 What changed? Agriculture?

Another suggestion that is was the invention of beer that led to civilization. Ignore that lite beer evolutionary path...

[Adder]

47 other individuals who lived alongside Ötzi in the Austrian Tyrol between 6400 and 1300 b.c.

Particularly long lived Methusulas...

My contention is that this guy Otzi was an Alpine d*ckhead. They killed him to be rid of him. Thats why he was found with all his worldly goods...they didn’t even bother to rob him.

[NFHale]

Apparently, he was one cool character… and got a chilly reception wherever he went…