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Prehistoric iceman Italy

Submitted by coldrum on Sunday, 10 June 2007  Page Views: 1997

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Country: Italy Italy's prehistoric iceman "Otzi" died from a shoulder wound inflicted by an arrow, according to research into his perfectly preserved 5,000-year old body.

Otzi, the oldest mummy unearthed, was found in the Italian Alps in 1991 wearing clothing made from leather and grasses and carrying a copper axe, a bow and arrows.

Though Otzi's body underwent several scientific tests to study life in the prehistoric age, it had so far been unclear whether he died from an arrow wound, a bad fall or severe freezing while climbing the high mountains.

Using modern X-ray technology, however, an Italian-Swiss research team said on Wednesday it had proved the cause of death as a lesion on an artery close to the shoulder, caused by an arrowhead that remains in the iceman's back.

A large haematoma -- or a collection of blood due to internal bleeding -- could also be seen in the surrounding tissue, and the iceman probably died shortly after the lesion was caused, researchers concluded.

Researchers had previously suggested he was killed by a rival hunter after putting up a fight, and concluded that his final meals consisted of venison and ibex meat.

The latest results on the research appeared online in the Journal of Archaeological Science and will be published in the National Geographic next month.

reuters.
Contributor Bio for coldrum: Based in Milkyway, contributing since 2002. Favourite site: Avebury.

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"Prehistoric iceman" | Login/Create an Account | 3 News and Comments
  
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Leather fashionable even in prehistoric times by coldrum on Saturday, 19 June 2010
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Leather fashionable even in prehistoric times

Leather pants aren't just for rock-and-roll stars, archaeologists report, since similar prehistoric leggings made the scene some 4,200 years ago.

Discovered in 2003 in the same Swiss Alps area as the 3,300 year-old Tyrolean iceman known as "Otzi", the frozen leather leggings reported in the current Journal of Archaeological Science emerged in 2003 from melting glaciers of the Schnidejoch ice patch, along with a bevy of artifacts, including arrows, coins, shoe straps and more, dating from 4,900 to 1,100 years ago.

"The conversion of raw animal hides and skins into durable leathers, with enhanced stability to water, bacterial degradation, heat and abrasion, was most probably the man's oldest technology combining exploitation of animals and plants," says the study led by Jorge Spangenberg of Switzerland's University of Lausanne:

"All the material recovered from Schnidejoch ice-patch comes directly from the ice border or very close to it, and were very well preserved in situ, frozen in ice and snow, under anaerobic conditions, protected from sun light, wind, dirt, silt or clay, with limited biological activity until uncovered by archaeologists. Therefore the leather material from Schnidejoch provide an unequal opportunity to perform a detailed study of the origin of the animal skin and tanning agents or chemicals used to make the prehistoric leather," says the study.

Detailed chemical and microscopic analysis on the leather legging, some 32 inches long, reveal it was made of goatskin, and tanned using birch bark and other plants. The goat belonged to a breed now found only in Laos, suggesting today's breeds crowded out others popular in prehistory.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/sciencefair/post/2010/06/leather-fashionable-in-prehistoric-times/1
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Re: Prehistoric iceman by coldrum on Thursday, 19 July 2007
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Italy sets up Iceman lab

Italy is setting up a new lab to gather and lead world research into its famed Iceman mummy.

The research centre will be housed at a science facility in this northern Italian city, EURAC, which already works with the Bolzano museum that houses the prehistoric hunter's mummified body.

The lab will be headed by German researcher Albert Zink of Munich University, the president of the local Alto Adige region, Luis Durnwalder, announced Thursday.

Zink, one of the world's leading experts on the Neolithic man also known as Oetzi, was chosen from 15 candidates from five countries, Durnwalder said.

"We think it is only right that we should build around Oetzi a structure able to become an international reference point for Iceman studies," Durnwalder said.

The 5000-year-old (3000 BC) Iceman has spawned a global cottage industry of studies since he was found in a glacier in the Oetz mountain valley in 1991.

Until now, most of the major research work has been done outside Bolzano.

There have been discoveries about what he ate and what illnesses he suffered from, as well as a keen debate on how he died from the arrow wound found in his body - initially, it was thought, in a fight with rival hunters.

One theory says he was assassinated in a tribal power struggle.

Another suggested he was the victim of ritual sacrifice.

Another study - fiercely contested by patriotic residents of this formerly Austrian region who see Oetzi as their proud forefather - reckons he was cast out from his community because a low sperm count rendered him childless. An eerie aura has also grown around the Iceman because of the allegedly mysterious deaths of seven people who came into contact with the mummy.

http://www.ansa.it/site/notizie/awnplus/english/news/2007-07-12_112114738.html
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Re: Prehistoric iceman by Anonymous on Saturday, 23 June 2007
Wow! What A Great Thing To Know Of!
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