Here’s a reconstruction of the oldest European mummy, called Ötzi, named for a region where he was found in the Alps back in 1991. His body had been preserved by his glacial environment for 5,300 years, and has been extensively studied by scientists who have put together a fascinating picture of the Iceman and his death.
For instance, the animal fur on him came from domesticated species — he was thus a pastoralist at a time when some cultures in Europe were hunter-gatherers. He had a copper ax with him, which was a high-status object. (See image of a similar ax found in 2017, which had been quarried from the same region in southern Italy — this shows that trade routes extending hundreds of miles existed at the time.) Special skin detection methods allowed them to figure out his body had 61 tattoos of various lines on his body (see image for some of them).
Why so much ink? Well, Ötzi wasn’t in the best of health at the time he died, and many of the tattoos were around areas he likely experienced pain — like in is his lower back, for instance, where bone analysis shows he had severe arthritis.
Ötzi also had Lyme’s Disease, was lactose intolerant (his genome provided this information), and might have suffered from upset stomach because he had traces of hop hornbeam, a medicinal plant used for this ailment. He was carrying mushrooms called birch polypore, which also likely were for medicinal use (scientists think they might have anti-microbial properties but are not sure), although it isn’t possible to evaluate how the Iceman intended to use them. Then, too, there was trauma to his head from a blunt object that struck him, as well as piercing damage from an arrow wound. It was the latter that finally did him in: scientists who tested his red bloods cells discovered a clotting agent that usually clears the system quickly, so the man likely bled to death.
In 2011, a recreated image of Ötzi was created by artists who used a 3-D model of his skull, and you see the results here — the man was about 110 pounds, 5 foot, 3 inches, and 45 years old. The stress of life as a neolithic person didn’t exactly promote youthful looks.
Source(s): _LiveScience_ Megan Gannon, “Ax linked to Ötzi the Iceman found north of the Alps,” 2016, Oct 6. @discovermagazine, “Scientists have mapped all of Ötzi the Iceman’s 61Tattoos,” Carl Engelking, Jan 30, 2015. Tia Ghose, _LiveScience,_, “Mummy Melodrama: Top 9 Secrets about Ötzi the Iceman” Nov 8, 2012. Rob Ramaker, “What was Ötzi doing with all those fungi?” Feb 26, 2016, https//:resourse.wur.nul/en/show.
