Ötzi ,the lce Man

By John Marjot

Ötzi Monument
Photo John Marjot

In 1991 a husband and wife discovered Ötzi's preserved body on the Tisenjoch. It was the Alpine archaeological find of the century. After establishing the age of Ötzi (he is over 5000 years old) the work began to analyse his possessions, and to determine the reasons for him having been buried by ice on the col. Initially it was surmised that he had been overcome by exhaustion at the col and had lain down to rest and die. The first autopsy suggested he had been wounded before reaching the col. It is now believed that Ötzi was murdered by person(s) unknown to us but probably known to him! Recent research suggests that he was shot with an arrow from quite close range. An artery was severed, and death happened within minutes. He was probably then dragged to his resting site on the Tisenjoch. He was undoubtedly a shepherd, living in one of the Italian alpine valleys and well used to exploring the high mountains of the Ötztal. In Vent there is a small municipal museum, and one of the most interesting exhibits concerns the transhumance that, to the present day occurs across the alpine watershed in the Ötztal. Sheep are still taken across glaciers at over 3000m to summit pastures, and grass cloaks similar to the one worn by Ötzi were still being worn by people in the rural areas of northern Italy in the 18th Century! Ötzi’s body and an exhibition of his life, are to be found in the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in the city of Bolzano, Italy. www.icemam.it

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