Posted on 02/03/2006 6:43:25 PM PST by presidio9
Stone Age man found frozen in the Alps some 5,300 years after he was murdered under mysterious circumstances may have been a childless social outcast, a new study showed.
Italian anthropologist Franco Rollo studied fragments of the DNA belonging to Oetzi, as the mummy has come to be known, and found two typical mutations common among men with reduced sperm mobility, the museum that stores the "iceman" said.
A high percentage of men with such a condition are sterile.
"Insofar as the 'iceman' was found to possess both mutations, the possibility that he was unable to father offspring cannot be eliminated," the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in the Alpine town of Bolzano said in a statement.
"This not improbable hypothesis raises new questions concerning his social rank within his society," it added, arguing that the new evidence supported a theory that viewed the man as a social outcast.
Hikers discovered Oetzi in the mountains between Italy and Austria in 1991.
In 2001, scientists found an arrowhead in the iceman's shoulder blade, and tests revealed blood from four different people on his clothes and a cut in his hand, possibly from a fight.
Medicine in the man's pockets and sophisticated weapons seemed to indicate that he was a shaman or a chieftain, and one theory says Oetzi was the victim of a power struggle in his own tribe. A rival theory proposes the opposite -- that he was a reject.
Rollo, a researcher at the University of Camerino in Italy, was also able to assign the mummy's DNA to one of the basic groups of human DNA historically occurring in Europe.
His basic DNA resembles that of the Ladines, an ethnic group still living in the region today, and that of residents of the Oetztal valley where he was found, the museum said.
Rollo's latest research findings will be published in February's edition of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology.
Let's assume that they can prove it is human blood. Given the nature of life back then, there is no way to make the jump to "he was murdered."
Are they trying to find next of kin to tell them their father/husband/son is dead?
Hey, the ice man was cold. Haven't these scientists ever heard of shrinkage?
No condoms in his pocket?
Seems to indicate??? Whoa, whoa, whoa... Slow down... How do they know he wasn't a common bandit who robbed and murdered a shaman and then was himself tracked down and killed by angry townscavepeople? Or how do they know he didn't legitimately acquire those items through trade or something? Too many logical leaps of faith for me.
Archeology tells us mostly whatever we want to believe. For a long time people believed that pottery was an extremely important Greek art, until somebody realized that pottery was the only Greek art form likely to survive in significant quantities.
The speculation here is almost as bad as those Discovery channel shows on dinosaurs that try to tell us how they looked, sounded, acted, etc. based on nothing other than bones. And I just love how the scientists speak with such authority and they really have no idea what they are talking about.
You're right. In the old days, we could just meet the bad guy outside the city limits!
(it added, arguing that the new evidence supported a theory that viewed the man as a social outcast.)
They found a DNC card on him.
He could have been an avid rock collector. And a lover of poetry.
Another perfect example of post traumatic stress. This man was my great x 200 grandfather. His inability to produce offspring has created terrible problems for me. Just like to ancestors of slavery, I am desperately in need of therapy to overcome the stress of being born of a childless great x grandfather.
I agree. As a kid, I was absolutely fascinated with looking a Egyptian mummies in the museum. But after a while, I realized they were real people. Today when I see them I want to say let these people rest in peace. Yes, it's ok to "study" their corpses for a while to gain understanding of the past, but they should not be display items like a painting. They were human beings, not artifacts.
I think it's time to give this "Ice Man" a decent burial that any human deserves.
Just my quirky feelings, I guess.
You shouldn't be complaining. You shouldn't exist!
I just can't believe that I sat there and watched the whole thing. I have no life.
He was mugged on his way home from the big game.
This is probably my number one reason for preferring cremation. I'd really hate to think that my remains might escape the complete decaying process with all the Sure-jell they inject ya with in the funeral homes.
He wasn't much of a chick magnet, I'd say.
He was probably an infidel cartoonist.
Man! If it wasn't embarassing enough back then, they have to announce it to the world again....
"Dang! I'm really, really late!"
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