Ötzi's mitochondrial
DNA may trace descendents and ancestors (4/30/08)
A new DNA study is underway,
conducted by Dr. Gianluca De Bellis of the CNR Institute of Biomedical
Technology and Professor Franco Rollo of the University of Camerino,
according to a press release issued by Roche Diagnostics.
Original DNA studies suggested
that "Oetzi’s mitochondrial DNA does not
resemble any sub-type found in any present existing ethnic group."
However, a new process, called Genome Sequencer FLX from Roche
Diagnostics, can purportedly "shed more light on the subject of Oetzi’s
descendents, and establish his place in the genetic scenario of the
present European race. Furthermore, 454 Sequencing data will enable
researchers to trace Oetzi’s ancestors; and
reconstruct an accurate phylogenetic family tree, obtaining an authentic
global view of human evolution." Results are expected by summer
2008.
After this study is completed,
"De Bellis plans to study Oetzi’s eating
habits. Tissue samples that have been extracted from the mummy’s
colon will enable an analysis of his intestinal flora. The reason for this
investigation will be to compare the genes between the embryonic digestive
tube bacteria of Neolithic man with those of the present day modern
man...."
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New
cause of Ötzi's death (8/29/07)
|
Two months
after Swiss
researchers claimed to have found the the exact cause of the iceman's
death, another team of scientists begs to disagree. Yes, they say, the
Iceman was seriously wounded by an arrow, which caused him to lose
consciousness, but a subsequent head wound was ultimately responsible for
his death.
The scientists
(Andreas Lippert, a prehistory professor at the University of Vienna, Paul
Gostner and Patrizia Pernter, radiologists at the Bolzano regional
hospital, and Eduard Egarter Vigl, a pathologist at the hospital) reached
their conclusion by studying the Iceman's position.
They propose
two possible scenarios:
(1) They
believe that he may have hit his head after losing consciousness and
died.
(2) The
unconscious Iceman was hit in the head by his attacker, which killed him.
In either
case, after the Iceman was dead, his attacker turned the body over and
removed the arrow shaft (the design of which might have identified him).
Results of the
analysis were published in Germania.
Swiss
researchers have pinpointed the exact cause of the iceman's death.
Although researchers knew that Ötzi had been injured by an arrow, they
were never quite sure whether he froze to
death before the injury could kill him or how long he survived.
By using a
multi-slice CT-scan at the University of Zurich, researchers led by Frank
Rühli, were able to piece together views of the iceman's shoulder showing
the wound. By doing this, they established that "the
arrow had torn a hole in an artery beneath his left collarbone, leading to
a massive loss of blood. That, in turn, caused
Ötzi to go into shock and suffer a
heart attack, according to the article published online in the Journal of
Archaeological Science. Even today, the chances of surviving such an
injury long enough to receive hospital treatment are only 40
percent...."
Rühli said
that the "arrowhead actually hit an artery and we see the lesion of
the artery. We also see in these CT images a large hematoma, which means
he must have had huge bleeding into the thorax cavity." His death,
the scientists stated, would have been rather quick under these
circumstances.
Of course, no
one will ever know what events led up to the injury. More research
continues, however.
These results
can be found in the current issue of the Journal of Archaeological
Science and will be published in the U.S. and German editions of National Geographic next
month.
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Yes,
Brad Pitt has an Ötzi tattoo (5/18/07)
|
Gossip sites
confirm (with photo) that Brad Pitt has placed a tattoo of the Iceman's
body on his left inner forearm.
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Ötzi lawsuit rages on (9/27/06)
|
Just when it
appeared that the lawsuit over the finder's fee for the Iceman was
resolved (see 6/5/06 below), the government of the Bolzano province (where
Ötzi now resides) has appealed a lower court decision. The case now goes
to the Cassation Court, Italy's highest court.
Some accounts
indicate that the Simons originally asked a finder's fee of about
$300,000, but this fee apparently was reduced after the June finding...to
€150,000 (about $195,000). The provincial government believes that the
high expenses it has incurred to establish a museum and maintain the
Iceman's preservation should be considered when determining the finder's
fee; therefore, a reduced fee is justified. According to one official,
"One has to consider that we have borne all the expense of exploiting
the find." Of course, Mrs. Simon sees things differently.
If Ötzi only
knew about this legal battle, what would he think? (News story at ansa.it.)
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Study
provides evidence that Ötzi was probably killed by multiple
assailants
near findspot (9/14/06)
|
For a
long time, scientists believed that the Iceman was a hunter who was killed
by another hunter's arrow in a mountain valley and managed to climb up the
mountain where he died. The primary evidence for this theory was the type
of plant material found in his stomach which suggested that he had been in
a specific mountain valley. However, a recent CAT-scan revealed that his
arrow wound involved a major artery. According to Bolzano Hospital
pathologist Eduard
Egarter Vigl (who has studied the Iceman over the years), this
indicates that he pretty much died where the wound took place, since he
would not have been able to take even one step before the enormous loss of
blood from such a wound killed him. (News story at ansa.it.)
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Study
suggests that
Ötzi was a shepherd
(9/5/06)
|
From
the time of his discovery in 1991, scientists and others have speculated
that the Iceman was a hunter. But a recent study published in the Journal
of Human Evolution ("Body size, body proportions, and
mobility in the Tyrolean ' Iceman,' " volume 51, issue 1, July 2006)
suggests that he may have been a shepherd instead.
By studying Ötzi's
leg bones, primarily his tibia,
or shin bone, and comparing it to the shin bones of 139 other prehistoric
men who lived from the Mesolithic age (Middle Stone Age) and from the Neolithic
age (Late Stone Age), scientists led by Christopher
Ruff from John Hopkins University hoped to answer the question:
how did the Iceman's measure up?
The answer:
"In many respects, his tibia more closely resembles those of European
Mesolithic rather than Neolithic males, which may reflect a more mobile
lifestyle than was characteristic of most Neolithic males, perhaps related
to a pastoral subsistence strategy" (that is, work as a shepherd).
According to Dr. Ruff, The Iceman "evidently went for long walks over
extremely hilly terrain" and "was much more active than his
contemporaries" as reflected by the look of his tibia. Ruff
continued, "He was more like the people who came before" (that
is the people from the Mesolithic Age) and suggests that his occupation
was "probably that of a high-altitude shepherd." (News story at ansa.it.)
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Ötzi
lawsuit over (6/5/06)
|
The
finder's fee lawsuit between Erika Simon (and her deceased husband Helmut)
and the government of the Bolzano province (where the Iceman is now
located) seems to be over. An appeals court has ruled that the Simons did
indeed discover the Iceman and are therefore entitled to a finder's fee.
What's more, the provincial government must also pay the Simons' legal
fees. Italian law indicates that the finder's fee for a discovery is 25
percent of the item's value. The problem is: how does anyone place a value
on the mummified remains of the Iceman?
Government
officials insist they will pay no more than €50,000 (about $65,000). The
Simons have argued that the Iceman has made a considerable amount of money
for the provincial government both in admissions fees at the museum and in
money brought in through tourism; they believe that they are entitled to
considerably more money. (News story at discovery.com.)
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Was the
Iceman's death carved on an ancient stone stele? (3/22/06)
|
L
orenzo
Dal Ri, director of the archaeological office of the Bolzano province, has
reported that an ancient stone stele used to build a church altar contains
carvings that seem to record the Iceman's death. Dal Ri told a reporter
that one part of the carved stele "shows an archer ready to shoot an
arrow on an unarmed man's back...[which bears] an impressive resemblance
with Ötzi's death. It is indeed a fascinating hypothesis, though we can't
say for sure this is the picture of Ötzi's murder."
He plans to
study the stele further. Although it comes from Ötzi's time period (the
Copper Age), it must be more precisely dated. Even if further study does
not link the stele to the Iceman's death, the stone is still important as
an early representation of murder.
