Ötzi the Stone Age Man : New knowledge about the glacier mummy

New knowledge about the glacier mummy Ötzi: The Stone Age man from the Alps probably died more than 5000 years ago, at a different time of year than previously thought.

In 1991, a sensational discovery was made in the Alps: on the Tisenjoch in the Ötztal Alps near the Italian-Austrian border, the oldest natural mummy of a Stone Age man was found. Since then, archaeologists have been trying to reconstruct Ötzi's movements before his death, and what also happened in the time after his death.

Until now, many experts have assumed that Ötzi fled into the mountains with damaged equipment after some violent confrontation, after which he died in a canyon in Tisenjoch in the autumn. The theory was that he was then quickly buried in snow and ice.

It wasn't until about 5,300 years later that the glaciers melted and released him, following unprecedented melting.

A new study suggests it may have happened in a rather different way. Researchers from Norway, Switzerland and Austria suggest that Ötzi probably died in spring or summer, not autumn.

Initially, the body appeared to lie on snow and ice, which melted away over the summer. After some time, Ötzi and his belongings slipped into a canyon a few metres below, where the glacier mummy was found many years later.

The new theory suggests that Ötzi was not constantly covered by ice or snow over the thousands of years, with warm summers recorded during the first 1500 years after his death.

This may explain the decay of his body and the objects he wore, which were the most exposed to the environmental conditions.

Around 3800 years ago, Ötzi was finally completely covered by snow and ice. So it was only at the end of the 20th century that the glacier mummy reappeared, due to the increased warming of the Alps caused by climate change.

The new research also casts doubt on the theory of a fight or conflict shortly before his death, which would have led to the damage, particularly to his tools.

Now the research suggests that it is far more likely that the damage came from the movement of objects on and in the ice. Similar damage can be compared to other ice age excavations.

The information in Weather & Radar's article is based on the research article in the scientific journal The Holocene.