Notes |
- The world, when the Iceman froze
http://www.robotwisdom.com/science/iceman.html
Jorn Barger July 2001 (updated Aug2001)
In 1991, a well-preserved mummy was discovered high in the Tyrolean Alpson the Italy-Austria border, dated by 14C to 3300 BC. (Because thespecific region was the ?tztaler Alps he's been nicknamed ?tzi or Oetzior Otzi.) A great deal has been deduced about his lifestyle from thefragments of his clothes and tools:
? He was about 46 years old, five foot two-and-a-half.
? He died in the springtime, from an arrow in the back.
? NEW: a wound on his wrist suggests he had just engaged in hand-to-handcombat
? His body-temperature was high when he died
? His last meal was fire-cooked flatbread, herbs, and ibex-meat
? He had been locked in glacial ice for almost the full 5300 years, butwith at least one melt that scattered his possessions.
? He had come from the south, heading for a pass over the mountain range.
? He wore wellmade snowboots so the pass must still have been snowy.
? His maternal ancestors had been in the region for 10,000 years.
? He had spent lots of time around copper smelting operations.
? He had no cavities in his teeth.
? He had simple tattoos near several arthritic joints.
? His copper axeblade was still attached to its handle, with pitch and astrip of leather. (Axes were status symbols, and this one seemed unused.
? His flint dagger had a wooden handle and a sheath woven from bark.
? His bow and arrows were unfinished and unusable.
? The arrows were in a sophisticated fur quiver,
? He had a net of woven grass, probably for hunting
? He wore three layers of garments made from goat, deerskin and barkfiber, but no wool.
? He had a bearskin hat.
? He had a wood-framed backpack, probably of leather.
? He carried live embers wrapped in green maple leaves in a birchbarkpouch.
? He had a 'fanny pack' belt with various tools
? He had a 'retoucher' of wood and antler for shaping flint
? He carried a sour blackthorn (sloe) berry, and two mushrooms withantibiotic properties.
[This is mostly based on Brenda Fowler's book: first chapter, Amazon]
From "Plants & the Ice Man" ?tzi's Last Journey. Written 1995 by JamesHolms Dickson. At
http://www.gla.ac.uk/Acad/IBLS/DEEB/jd/otzi.htm
"...he was found in a very well-preserved state melting out of the ice inSeptember 1991 at some 10,400 feet (3,210m) above sea level. With the topof his head thawing out first, he lay very close to the border of Austriaand Italy in the territory of the latter nation but only Italian since1919. When he died some 5,300 years ago ?tzi was between 25 and 40 yearsold, about 5 feet 3 or 4 inches (160 cm) tall and well dressed in threelayers of well-crafted skins and grass to face the rigours of beingbriefly in the zone of permanent snow and ice in the mountains. He hadwell-lined shoes, a belt from which to drape his loincloth and suspendhis leggings, a jacket, a cape and a bearskin hat. His gear included alongbow and a quiver full of arrows, a hafted copper axe, a sheatheddagger, a wooden-framed backpack, two bark containers, one containingcharcoal, and a belt pouch housing small useful items including flints, aretouching tool and fungus for tinder. He was inconspicuously tattooedwith simple designs.
?tzi's use of grass, bark and wood
?tzi wore a cape of grass and his shoes were packed with grass. Remainsof no less than 17 different types of trees and shrubs have beenrecognised so far among ?tzi's gear. The bark used to make his containerswas that of birch as the silvery white colour makes very obvious. Hislongbow was made of yew. Strangely, and without parallel, the handle ofhis axe was also of yew; ash would have been the expected wood. However,the handle of his small dagger was made of ash. His arrow shafts weremade of Viburnum (Guelder Rose or Wayfaring Tree) and Cornus (Corneliancherry or Dogwood). Both these woods were used to make the arrow shaftsrecovered from the grave of an Iron Age prince found at Hochdorf,Germany. Last century a peat cutter at Fyvie, Aberdeenshire, found aprehistoric flint arrow head with shaft attached; the shaft was Viburnum.Evidently, for a long spell of time over a large area of Europe arrowmakers regarded Viburnum as very suitable. Lime made the body of ?tzi'sretouching tool and lime bast was used for cords. His backpack frame wasof larch and hazel. Leaves of Norway maple were used as insulatingmaterial for the embers he had carried in one of the containers whichalso contained leaves of juniper. For fuel he had used reticulate willow,green alder, Norway spruce, pine, elm and possibly amelanchier. A fruitof sloe was found with the corpse."
See also:
"The Iceman's Last Meal" by Brenda Fowler at
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/icemummies/iceman.html
&
"Ice Mummies Home Page"
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/icemummies/
Also for more information see under his "grandmother" "Numerousgenerations to 7 daughters of Eve"
|