A Stone Age Cold Case: Ötzi the ‘Iceman’ Thawed and Refroze Many Times, Researchers Say

In 1991 , a yoke of climber encountered a human trunk stick out of the water ice high in the Italian alp . Though its skin was preserved — complete with tattoo — the body turn out to be 5,300 - yr - old remains , mummify by the frosty , dry conditions in which the man died . Now known as Ötzi , the famously well - preserved mammy has given researchers a remarkable look into the life of a Stone Age soul .

But recent analysis of 30 old age of scholarship suggest the story of Ötzi ’s death and subsequent cold gangrene may need revision . The common tarradiddle — based on initial analysis of the remains and succeed - up studies in the early 2000s — is that Ötzi was fatally offend and staggered into the Alps to escape his attacker . He expire there and rapidly froze , where his remains ( and his toolkit ) remained for the next five millennia .

A team of archeologist now posit that Ötzi was not immediately bury in ice and was repeatedly debunk to the elements over the next 1,500 years . The squad ’s research waspublishedthis week in The Holocene .

Ötzi, a 5,300-year-old mummy discovered in 1991.

Ötzi, a 5,300-year-old mummy discovered in 1991.Photo: Andrea Solero/AFP (Getty Images)

“ The story is so at odds with how icy archeologic sites piece of work , ” said Lars Pilø , a polar archeologist and the study ’s wind author , in an email to Gizmodo . “ We conclude that the discovery destiny surrounding Ötzi are not a string of miracles , but can be well explained by normal mental process on icy archaeological sites . ”

Ötzi ’s remains likely fade out of the ice many clip , the researchers say . Rather than being frozen in clip and space from the Stone Age until 1991 thanks to some superlative good fortune , Ötzi thawed out and refroze and was moved around the mountaintop as the environment changed , harmonize to the study .

Ötzi was in a gully , which was previously consider to have allow the mummy ’s preservation despite the movement of ice above it ; this team contends that Ötzi in reality become flat elsewhere on the mountain and was finally moved down into the gully by average environmental changes .

The Ötzi excavation site, high in the Alps.

The Ötzi excavation site, high in the Alps.Photo:© Amt für Archäologie, Autonome Provinz Bozen. Used with permission

“ This is a good thing , ” Pilø added , “ because it raises the probability of find another ice mummy elsewhere , when no exceeding portion are needed . ”

Ötzi is as ancient to Tutankhamun as the Emperor Claudius is to us . But the preservation of the mummy has reach scientist a uncommon chance to reckon instantly back in fourth dimension . depth psychology of the mummy ’s colon , stomach , and the isotope in its hairsbreadth revealedthe Iceman ’s dieting : ibex and ruby deer , cereals , and toxic fern . Isotope ratios in Ötzi ’s axtraced its originsto Southern Tuscany . Scientists have evencounted all 61 tattooson the ancient man ’s shriveled cutis .

The team also believes that the mummy ’s tools — Ötzi was happen with a backpack frame , a fur cap , a quiver , and an ax — were damaged by the elements rather than by his ancient aggressor . The team ’s conclusion reap on years of Ötzi scholarship , which proffer an exhaustive tilt of possibilities for how the Stone Age man ended up dead and mummified so high in the hatful .

Ötzi’s fur cap, as seen when it was first discovered.

Ötzi’s fur cap, as seen when it was first discovered.Photo:Andreas Lippert, used with permission.

Pilø is also the author of theSecrets of the Iceblog , a site devoted to frosty archeology , especially items rule thawing from glaciers in Northern Europe . mood change has speed the discovery of these objects , especially from ice patches , which treat frozen materials much more softly than dynamic glaciers , which have a propensity for grinding object into oblivion . In 2020 , a trove of hunting artifacts was found in an ice dapple in Norway ; in another Methedrine eyepatch , once a Viking batch pass , researchers foundthe corpse of a Canis familiaris , its ternary , mitten , shoes , and parts of a sled .

Just last year , a1,300 - class - old ski appearedout of thawing ice . Though not as superlative as Ötzi , discoveries like these will become more frequent as methamphetamine hydrochloride melts in a warming clime , Pilø said .

And found on the squad ’s finding , preserved human clay may appear more ofttimes , too . If Ötzi was n’t an extremely fortuitous situation of saving , more mummies may shortly emerge from the ice .

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