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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...

A length of cord found alongside the body of Ötzi the Iceman, the Neolithic hunter who was discovered entombed in ice high in the Dolomites, has been identified as a string for his wooden bow. Experts had long speculated that the two objects were connected but definitive proof has now been obtained by a team of Swiss scientists. The cord, which was found tucked into a quiver used by the 5,300-year-old Iceman for keeping his arrows, is made of animal sinew - ideal material for producing a strong, powerful bow. It is two metres long, almost exactly the same length...

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...

Watch as Otzi, a 5000-year-old mummy, is brought to life and preserved with 3D modeling. (Aired February 17, 2016)He was stalked, attacked and left to die alone. Murdered more than 5,000 years ago, Otzi the Iceman is Europe's oldest known natural mummy. Miraculously preserved in glacial ice, his remarkably intact remains continue to provide scientists, historians, and archeologists with groundbreaking discoveries about a crucial time in human history. But in order to protect him from contamination, this extraordinary body has been locked away, out of reach, in a frozen crypt—until now. NOVA joins renowned artist and paleo-sculptor Gary Staab as...

Mountainer Reinhold Messner, right, and colleague inspect the mummified remains of Ötzi the Iceman following his discovery in 1991. The famed mummy died from an arrow to the back on a high Alpine mountain pass 5,300 years ago. Now researchers are tracing his unusual movements right before his murder.A wounded—and possibly wanted—man, Ötzi the Iceman spent his final days on the move high up in the Alps until he was felled with an arrow to the back. About 5,300 years later, archaeologists are still unraveling the mystery of his death. Now, a new analysis of mossy plant remains from the...

All mines need regular reinforcement against collapse, and Hallstatt, the world's oldest salt mine perched in the Austrian Alps, is no exception. But Hallstatt isn't like other mines. Exploited for 7,000 years, the mine has yielded not only a steady supply of salt but also archaeological discoveries attesting to the existence of a rich civilisation dating back to the early part of the first millennium BC. So far less than two percent of the prehistoric tunnel network is thought to have been explored, with the new round of reinforcement work, which began this month, protecting the dig's achievements, according to...

An international team of archaeologists led by experts from the University of York has uncovered evidence of human activity in the high slopes of the French Alps dating back over 8000 years... one of the most detailed archaeological investigations carried out at high altitudes. It reveals a story of human occupation and activity in one of the world's most challenging environments from the Mesolithic to the Post-Medieval period. The work included the excavation of a series of stone animal enclosures and human dwellings considered some of most complex high altitude Bronze Age structures found anywhere in the Alps... Excavations carried...

A scientist has finally confirmed with 3D models that legendary ice man Otzi was indeed killed 5,300 years ago by an arrow. Otzi, a 5,300-year-old mummified man, was found in 1991 in a glacier in the Alps between what is now Austria and Italy. Since the discovery, Otzi has been examined by multiple teams of scientists, with new discoveries coming to light each time. Now an expert claims it was the arrow that delivered the fatal blow, severing the nerve to his shoulder and hitting his major vessels. Since his discovery on 19 December 1991 by German hikers, Ó¦tzi has...

Lady of Bietikow lived during the Neolithic period. All that is left of the woman who died more than 5,000 years ago are bones and some clothing fragments, but researchers have still managed to piece together some details about her life. By learning more about the life of Lady of Bietikow, as she has been named, we gain information about what life was like in those days. Her remains were found near a village of the same name in northeastern Germany's Uckermark region during excavation works for wind turbines. Who Was The The Mysterious Lady Of Bietikow And What Had...

Geneticists have scanned the genomes of 173 Armenians from Armenia and Lebanon and compared them with those of 78 other populations from around the world. They found that the Armenians are a mix of ancient populations whose descendants now live in Sardinia, Central Asia and several other regions... Armenians share 29 percent of their DNA ancestry with Otzi, a man whose 5,300-year-old mummy emerged in 1991 from a melting Alpine glacier. Other genetically isolated populations of the Near East, like Cypriots, Sephardic Jews and Lebanese Christians, also share a lot of ancestry with the Iceman, whereas other Near Easterners, like...

A 3,300-year-old treasure trove of gold found in northern Germany has stumped German archeologists. One theory suggests that traders transported it thousands of miles from a mine in Central Asia, but other experts are skeptical. Archeologists in Germany have an unlikely new hero: former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. They have nothing but praise for the cigar-smoking veteran Social Democratic politician. Why? Because it was Schröder who, together with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, pushed through a plan to pump Russian natural gas to Western Europe. For that purpose, an embankment 440 kilometers (275 miles) long and up to 30 meters (100 feet)...

Talk about a paleo diet. Scientists have uncovered the last meal of a frozen hunter who died 5,300 years ago in the Alps. The stomach contents of the corpse, widely known as Oetzi the Iceman, offer a snapshot of what ancient Europeans ate more than five millennia ago, researchers said. On the menu, described Thursday in the journal Current Biology, were the fat and meat of a wild goat, meat of a red deer and whole wheat seeds, which Oetzi ate shortly before his death. Traces of fern leaves and spores were also discovered in Oetzi's stomach. Scientists think he...

When viewed through the window of the museum’s freezer, where he is kept now, his hands not only appear unusually small, but they also show little sign of hard use, suggesting that Ötzi was no manual laborer. Every modern murder investigation relies heavily on forensic science, but in Ötzi’s case, the techniques have been particularly high tech, involving exotic specialties like archaeobotany and paleometallurgy. From examining traces of pollen in his digestive tract, scientists were able to place the date of Ötzi’s death at sometime in late spring or early summer. In his last two days, they found, he consumed...

The Iceman as he has come to be known, (also known as Ötzi) has been the object of intense scrutiny ever since being found embedded in an Alpine glacier back in 1991 -- he is believed to have died approximately 5,300 years ago... a [moving] nano-sized probe... allows for capturing 3D imagery -- it revealed the clear doughnut shape of red blood cells. To confirm that the images they were seeing represented real red blood cells, the team shone a laser on the same material and read the wavelengths that were reflected back -- that revealed that the molecular makeup...

By using an innovative non-invasive photographic technique, European researchers have managed to locate and map the extensive set of tattoos on the exquisitely preserved remains of Ötzi the Iceman. Remarkably, they even found a previously unknown tattoo on his ribcage. Ötzi's frozen remains were discovered by two German tourists in the Ötzal Alps on the border between Austria and Italy in 1991. He lived around 3,300 BCE and represents Europe's oldest natural human mummy. Because he was so well preserved in ice, he has provided anthropologists with a slew of information about Copper Age (or Chalcolithic) humans. ... It's worth...

<p>The 5,300-year-old "Iceman" discovered in 1991 in the Italian Alps was killed by one or more assailants in a fight that lasted at least two days, shows evidence obtained by sophisticated DNA testing and old-fashioned detective work.</p> <p>Scientists initially presumed that the Stone Age Iceman, nicknamed Otzi, was caught in a storm and froze to death. But a new team said Monday that Otzi's case instead has become the world's oldest, and coldest, murder case.</p>

Italy's prehistoric Iceman was murdered by an arrow in the back, despite the efforts of a companion to save him. But although he apparently died fleeing from a skirmish, he did not give up without a fight. He bore traces of the blood of four other men on his weapons and clothes, three of whom he had killed or wounded. These are among the startling findings of Dr Tom Loy of Queensland University in Brisbane, Australia, published this week after analysis of blood traces found on the 5,300-year- old mummy, which was dug out of the Alpine ice 12 years...

ROME (Reuters) - A prehistoric Italian iceman nicknamed "Otzi" may have been shot in the back with an arrow, but he only died after prolonged combat with his foes, new DNA evidence has shown. Reuters Photo Missed Tech Tuesday? Check out the powerful new PDA crop, plus the best buys for any budget The 5,000-year-old corpse, dug out of a glacier in northern Italy more than a decade ago, had traces of blood from four different people on his clothes and weapons, molecular archeologist Tom Loy said Wednesday. He also had "defensive cut wounds" on his hands, wrists and rib...

Was Ancient Alpine "Iceman" Killed in Battle? Sarah Ives for National Geographic News October 30, 2003 In 1991, two Germans hiking in the Alps of northern Italy discovered the 5,200-year-old remains of a Copper Age man frozen in a glacier. The well-preserved corpse, dubbed "Ötzi the Iceman," was found with tools, arrows, and a knife. Since then, scientists have speculated about how the 46-year-old male died, offering scenarios from hypothermia to ritual sacrifice. Now a team of researchers has added another theory to the mix, suggesting that the Iceman died in battle. The "Iceman" made a valiant effort to fight...

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...