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Doctors who studied the Iceman, a mummified Stone Age hunter found in Italy in 1991, announced conclusive proof Wednesday that he was shot to death with a flint-tipped arrow rather than dying of exposure as once thought. "He only lived for a short time after the arrow impact," said Andreas Nerlich, who headed a joint study by Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich and experts from Bolzano, Italy. Shortly before he was shot in the back, the Iceman suffered a non-lethal blow with a blunt object, possibly a stone from a slingshot, Nerlich's team said in a letter to the online...

From the analysis of the intestinal contents of the 5,200-year-old Iceman from the Eastern Alps, Professor James Dickson from the University of Glasgow in the UK and his team have shed some light on the mummy's lifestyle and some of the events leading up to his death. By identifying six different mosses in his alimentary tract, they suggest that the Iceman may have travelled, injured himself and dressed his wounds. The Iceman is the first glacier mummy to have fragments of mosses in his intestine. This is surprising as mosses are neither palatable nor nutritious and there are few reports...

A 5,300-year-old mummified 'ice man' unearthed in the Alps belonged to a previously unknown branch of the human family tree, scientists have discovered. No trace of the lineage appears to remain today, meaning that the 'ice man' - dubbed 'Oetzi' - is unlikely to have any descendants. Oetzi's mummified remains were found in September 1991 in the Eastern Alps near the Austro-Italian border. The 5,300-year-old remains of Oetzi the iceman. Scientists have failed to trace his lineage, fearing his family may have become extinct He was about 46 years old when he met his violent death. Examinations revealed that he...

Ancient iceman probably has no modern relatives Buzz UpSendSharePrint Thu Oct 30, 2:21 pm ET Reuters – An undated handout file photo shows "Otzi", Italy's prehistoric iceman. "Otzi", … LONDON (Reuters) – "Otzi," Italy's prehistoric iceman, probably does not have any modern day descendants, according to a study published Thursday. A team of Italian and British scientists who sequenced his mitochondrial DNA -- which is passed down through the mother's line -- found that Otzi belonged to a genetic lineage that is either extremely rare or has died out. Otzi's 5,300-year-old corpse was found frozen in the Tyrolean Alps in...

Iceman's DNA linked to coastal aboriginals Judith Lavoie, Canwest News Service; Victoria Times Colonist Published: Saturday, April 26, 2008 VICTORIA -- Sisters Sheila Clark and Pearl Callaghan held hands and blinked back tears Friday as they talked about their ancestor Kwaday Dan Ts'inchi, better known as Long Ago Person Found, a young aboriginal man whose frozen body was discovered nine years ago at the foot of a melting glacier in Northern B.C. Three hunters found the body in 1999 in Tatshenshini-Alsek Park, part of the traditional territory of the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations. And earlier this month, 17 aboriginal...

Saddam Hussein's ally Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri 'captured' in Iraq By Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent Last Updated: 12:57am BST 24/04/2008 American forces have captured Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath Party heir, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, the most wanted former regime official still at large, it has been reported. A Middle Eastern television channel said Douri, a key force in the country's devastating insurgency, had been seized in a mountain raid in Saddam's home province of Salahaddin. Most wanted: Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri Douri was King of Clubs in the deck of cards of most wanted Iraqis issued to American soldiers after the war. But...

Scientists tantalize with 'iceman' findings Darah Hansen, Vancouver Sun Published: Friday, April 04, 2008 Scientists from around the world who have been studying the centuries-old human remains that melted out of a glacier in northwestern British Columbia in 1999 will gather for the first time in Victoria later this month to talk about what they've learned from the unnamed "iceman." The Kwäday Dän Ts'ìnchi Symposium will be held April 24-27 at the University of Victoria. It is being held in conjunction with the Northwest Anthropology Conference. The conference brings together more than 30 researchers from fields as diverse as archeology,...

Bush to nominate acting FAA chief to be administrator * Story Highlights * Robert A. Sturgell is the acting FAA administrator * President Bush to nominate him for promotion to the permanent position * Sturgell is a lawyer and former Topgun Navy fighter pilot WASHINGTON (AP) -- A former Topgun Navy fighter pilot who went on to fly commercial jetliners is being nominated to run the Federal Aviation Administration for the next five years. Now acting FAA administrator, Robert A. Sturgell, 48, who goes by Bobby, will be nominated by President Bush for promotion by Congress to the permanent position....

Researchers say Italy's 5,000-year-old Iceman died from head trauma, not arrow The Associated PressPublished: August 28, 2007 ROME, Italy: Researchers studying Iceman, the 5,000-year-old mummy found frozen in the Italian Alps, have come up with a new theory for how he died, saying he died from head trauma, not by bleeding to death from an arrow. Just two months ago, researchers in Switzerland published an article in the Journal of Archaeological Science saying the mummy — also known as Oetzi — had died after the arrow tore a hole in an artery beneath his left collarbone, leading to massive loss...

A prehistoric hunter known as Oetzi whose well-preserved body was found on a snow-covered mountain in the Alps died more than 5,000 years ago after being struck in the back by an arrow, scientists said in an article published Wednesday. Researchers from Switzerland and Italy used newly developed medical scanners to examine the hunter's frozen corpse to determine that the arrow had torn a hole in an artery beneath his left collarbone, leading to a massive loss of blood. That, in turn, caused Oetzi to go into shock and suffer a heart attack, according to the article published online in...

EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska (AFNEWS) -- A crowd of more than 500 Airmen, family members and guests gathered March 9 to welcome home 400 Eielson Airmen who returned from deployments over the past six months. "It's the hard work and dedication of these Airmen that made the recent deployments successful," said Lt. Col. Mike Fitzgerald, the 354th Logistics Readiness Squadron commander, who himself recently returned from Iraq. Colonel Fitzgerald also took a moment to recognize the hard work of the Airmen currently deployed. "I'm asking everyone here to take a couple of minutes tonight to think about the men...

KATHMANDU (AFP) - A Dutch daredevil is to tackle the world's highest peak wearing just boots, shorts, gloves and a cap, the expedition leader told AFP Wednesday. Wim Hof, known as the "Iceman," holds nine endurance records and recently ran 21 kilometres (13 miles) barefoot above the Arctic circle in Finland. Hof claims to have special abilities to withstand freezing temperatures. His website innerfire.nl shows him cross-legged and semi-naked, meditating on ice. "He will not climb all the way in shorts, only in sections, but we plan to set many new world records," said expedition leader Werner de Jong by...

Tattoos - The Ancient and Mysterious History By Cate Lineberry Humans have marked their bodies with tattoos for thousands of years. These permanent designs—sometimes plain, sometimes elaborate, always personal—have served as amulets, status symbols, declarations of love, signs of religious beliefs, adornments and even forms of punishment. Joann Fletcher, research fellow in the department of archaeology at the University of York in Britain, describes the history of tattoos and their cultural significance to people around the world, from the famous " Iceman," a 5,200-year-old frozen mummy, to today’s Maori. What is the earliest evidence of tattoos? In terms of tattoos...

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...

Oetzi, the prehistoric man frozen in a glacier for 5,300 years, could have been infertile, a new study suggests. Genetic research, published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, also confirms that his roots probably lie in Central Europe. Oetzi's body was found in the melting ice of the Schnalstal glacier in the Italian Alps in 1991. Examination of his remains has already revealed the Copper Age man almost certainly died as a result of a fight. The assessment is based on the presence of an arrowhead that is lodged in his back and extensive cuts to his hands. The...

Death renews iceman 'curse' claim Should working with Oetzi carry a health warning? The death of a molecular biologist has fuelled renewed speculation about a "curse" connected to an ancient corpse. Tom Loy, 63, had analysed DNA found on "Oetzi", the Stone Age hunter whose remains were discovered in 1991. Dr Loy died in unclear circumstances in Australia two weeks ago, it has been announced, making him the seventh person connected with Oetzi to die. Colleagues and family of Dr Loy have rejected the notion that he was the victim of a "curse". It is not known how many people...

A researcher inspects the 5,000-year-old mummy known as Oetzi in this file photo from 2000. Oetzi is kept in a sealed-off chamber which researchers now worry may have been penetrated. Updated: 10:02 p.m. ET June 13, 2005ROME - Researchers suspect the corpse of a 5,000-year-old mummy frozen in the Italian Alps might have been contaminated by bacteria since its discovery in 1991, a doctor who cares for the body said Monday.

Theory: Iceman Oetzi Wore High-Tech Shoes By Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News Feb. 23, 2005 — Ötzi, the copper ax-wielding iceman found frozen in the Alps where he had trekked over 5,300 years ago, wore high-tech snowshoes, according to a closer look at artifacts found with his remains. If the new theory holds, Ötzi's footwear would become the world's first known snowshoes, and in a landslide victory. The current likely record-holders are not even actual shoes, but rather carvings of what look to be snowshoes found within Iron Age petroglyphs that date to approximately 500 B.C. Ötzi's Moccasin? The Shoe from...

February 17, 2005 4:30 AM Alpine iceman reveals Stone Age secrets By Sophie Hardach BOLZANO, Italy (Reuters) - Some 5,300 years after his violent death, a Stone Age man found frozen in the Alps is slowly revealing his secrets to a global team of scientists. But despite more than a decade of high-tech efforts by geneticists, botanists and engineers many questions about his life and death remain unsolved. And rumours of a deadly curse on those who found him continue to swirl. German amateur mountaineer Helmut Simon and his wife spotted Oetzi, as he became known, in the mountains between...

For 13 years, mountaineer Helmut Simon had basked in the glory of his unique encounter with history. In 1991, the 67-year-old German discovered Otzi the Iceman, the perfectly preserved body of a Neolithic hunter, emerging from the Similaun glacier, 3,200m (10,500ft) up the Austrian Alps. Wherever he went in his beloved Alps, Simon wore a badge identifying himself as 'Discoverer of Otzi'. But yesterday, Simon's body was found in a stream in these same mountains. On 15 October, the pensioner departed alone from the village of Bad Hofgastein, near Salzburg, up the 2,134m (7,000ft) Gamskarkogel peak. His wife, Erika, who...