Scientist: Ötzi the Iceman Died Violently
By Rossella Lorenzi, Discovery News

March 20, 2002 -
A violent hand-to-hand encounter marked the last hours of Ötzi the Iceman, the world's oldest and best-preserved mummy, according to dramatic findings that emerged during filming of a Discovery Channel documentary.

Eduard Egarter Vigl, official caretaker of the 5,300-year-old mummy at the Archaeological Museum in Bolzano*, Italy, announced Wednesday that he had found a deep knife wound on the mummy's right hand. Probably the result of a defensive act, the wound dates back to Ötzi's last hours and, combined with the arrowhead found in the man's left shoulder last summer, supports the theory that he was the victim of violence.

Even More Presumed Details of Ötzi's Final Fight (8/13/03):
Molecular biologist Thomas Loy (from the University of Queensland's Institute of Molecular Bioscience in Brisbane) who headed the DNA research team has given many interviews in the last few days expanding on his theory of what happened to the Iceman. According to Loy, this is what happened to Ötzi (based on conclusions he has drawn from his DNA research and his study of Ötzi's weapons and tools):

1. The Fight
Loy concludes that Ötzi encountered hunters from another area; they fought. "Rather than a simple murder... it looks like [Ötzi] may have put himself into a boundary situation where bloody battles often occur," Loy told Reuters (reported on CNN.com). "Presumably he was in a combat situation for between 24 to 48 hours before he died."

2. His Wounds
During the fight, Ötzi was shot in the back with an arrow. He also received cuts on his hands, wrists, and rib cage. Using his bow, he also shot "at least two different people and retrieved his arrow, but then he shot at something else and missed, shattering his arrow" (Reuters, CNN.com). As one of his last acts, Loy concluded that the Iceman tried to fashion one arrow from two broken ones.

3. His Companion(s)
Loy, who is an expert on prehistoric tools and weapons, concluded that Ötzi could not have removed the arrow from his back by himself. This suggests that he was traveling with someone. Additional blood (not Ötzi's) found on his goatskin coat indicated to Loy that Ötzi carried a wounded companion some distance. What Loy doesn't answer (in his theory): Is this the same companion who removed the arrow or an additional companion?

4. Type of Hunter
Loy studied the Iceman's arrows and concluded that, since they were very lightweight and quite long, they were more suited to higher elevations (above the tree line). They wouldn't have worked well in a forest, because they could have been too easily deflected.

5. His Death
Loy told NPR: "I suspect that as he realized his life was ending, he stopped, put his gear [down], stacked it neatly against a rock wall and lay down and expired."

From another intrview, (8/10/03)...
Results of recent DNA tests conducted by an Australian researcher have led to all sorts of new speculation about Ötzi's final days. Like crime scene investigators, molecular biologist Thomas Loy and his team (from the University of Queensland's Institute of Molecular Bioscience in Brisbane) looked for blood traces on the Iceman, his tools, and weapons. During their investigation, they saw further signs of trauma to Ötzi's body, including bruises (and cuts) on his abdomen (especially on his rib area), which (they concluded) indicates that he may have been beaten. They found DNA from four different people other than the Iceman, and they carried out each test twice to be certain of their findings.

Dr. Loy told a reporter from USA Today, "We have been working round the clock for the last three weeks to get these results. It was very exciting when the blood samples came back positive for human DNA from four separate individuals."

Specifically, they took samples from the Iceman's antler-skinning tool, his stone-tipped knife, two of his arrows (one broken), his axe handle, and his goatskin coat. Using techniques devised especially for ancient DNA, the team found four different DNA sequences: one on the knife blade, two different sequences on one arrow, and a fourth on Ötzi's goatskin coat. (They also found a small tear in the coat which may have been the entry point of the arrowhead that was found embedded in his shoulder.)

They have interpreted these findings in this way:

1. The two different blood samples on the arrow may indicate that Ötzi killed two of his assailants and retrieved the arrow to use again.

2. The blood on his coat may indicate that Ötzi carried a wounded friend on his shoulder for some distance.

Dr. Loy told news.com.au: "On the basis of all my examinations, [Ötzi's] specialty was hunting the high alpine passes for ibex and possibly chamois which would have taken him into boundary conditions where other people would have disputed the territory. His gear was stacked up neatly. He didn't keel over, although he was probably tired, exhausted and hurt like hell."

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Confirmed:
Ötzi Was an Early Italian (7/25/03) One of the most important political questions about Ötzi is: who owns him. Austria and Italy fought a bitter battle over custody, resolved when authorities confirmed that his findspot was located in Italy. That meant Italy was allowed to claim the Iceman, build a large modern museum to exhibit him, and reap substantial financial rewards. But the issue wasn't truly settled, because many people wondered where Ötzi came from. Was he a pre-Austrian (on his way to what is now Italy) or a pre-Italian (on his way to the area that has become Austria)? Now we know, thanks to research by Dr. Wolfgang Mueller from the Research School of Earth Sciences at the Australian National University in Canberra.

Dr. Mueller studied the mineral composition of Ötzi's dental enamel and and one leg bone. He then compared this analysis to isotopes found in the environment north and south of Ötzi's findspot.

"From the enamel it is possible to reconstruct the composition of the water Ötzi drank and get clues about the earth where his food was grown," Dr Mueller said. "As a result we now know Ötzi came from near to where he was found from the Eisack Valley [in the South Tyrol part of Italy]. He spent his childhood there. And he spent his adulthood in Lower Vinschgau [also in the Italian Tyrol]."

Translation:
Ötzi lived his life in the area south of the findspot, making him a very, very early Italian. Dr. Mueller also concluded that Ötzi was not a world traveller (he hadn't hiked all over Europe) and hadn't spent extensive time at higher elevations.

The Iceman's Wounded Hand (2/2003): The February 2003 issue of the Smithsonian contains an article by Bob Cullen summarizing what has been discovered about the Iceman.

A filmmaker working on a documentary for the Discovery Channel interviewed one of the men who helped recover the Iceman's body and learned that Ötzi may have been holding a dagger in his hand when he was discovered. Dr Egarter Vigl re-examined the Iceman's right hand in June 2002 and "found a small cut running from the palm of the right hand, just below the index finger, over to the top side of the hand" (Smithsonian). About 1.5 inches long and 6 mm. deep, the cut was discolored along the edges, indicating that the injury happened when the Iceman was alive. Dr. Egarter told author Cullen, "I think that the wound was very painful. Two fingers are nearly immobilized." X-rays also revealed two cuts on the underlying bones (of the palm and the wrist).

Additional study of the Iceman's body would help clarify questions surrounding the cause of death: If the officials at the South Tyrol Museum would grant permission, the arrowhead could be removed and an endoscopy performed to determine if any nerves or blood vessels were severed.

See Ötzi the Iceman