Iceman update 2012

Otzi  Update  

November    2010  Nine  hour  autopsy  took  place.  Early  results  issued  June  2011  

•  Importance  –scienAfic  value  •  Age  -­‐  carbon  daAng  proved  that  he  had  lived  some  5,300  years  ago.  

•   Also  the    'wet'  nature  of  the  mummificaAon  process  

•  Rare  case  in  which  mummificaAon  took  place  by  dehydraAon  before  the  body  became  embedded  in  glacier  ice  

•  2001  radiologist  Paul  Gostner  idenAfied  previous  thought  of  shadowing  as  an  arrow  head    (leP  shoulder).  

•  Since  then  a  full  CT  (computed  tomography)  scan  confirmed  that  the  arrowhead  tore  through  a  major  artery.  

•   Gostner  also  confirmed  that  Ötzi  received  a  blow  to  the  head.    

Death  •  Forensic  evidence  indicated  that  he  was  shot  in  the  back  by  a  distant  assailant  at  a  lower  elevaAon.  

•  He  was  then  struck  on  the  head  and  fell  on  his  back,  where  he  died.    

•  Finally,  the  murderer  rolled  Ötzi  onto  his  front,  with  his  arm  folded  under  his  body,  and  tugged  the  arrow  shaP  from  where  it  was  lodged  his  back.  

•  Arrow  would  have  caused  internal  bleeding  and  a  rapid,  shock-­‐related  cardiac  arrest.  

Ötzi’s  body  and  the  evidence  

•  Hand  •  LeP  hand  has  a  number  of  parAally  healed  deep  cuts,  likely  inflicted  several  days  before  death.  •  self-­‐defence  wounds  and  suggest  he  was  involved  in  conflict.  •  Supports  in  part  Splinder’s  disaster  theory  (1995).  Had    a  fight  the  valley  and  had  fled  into  the  mountains  and  was  in  the  process  of  fashioning  a  longbow  and  quiver  when  he  was  killed.    

•  around  46  years  of  age.    •  Good  condiAon  for  a  man  of  his  era.  •  Eyes  blue  •  Stomach  appeared  empty  •  over  50  taaoos,  created  by  rubbing  charcoal  into  fine  incisions.  

•  Possibly  a  form  of  pain  relief    

•  Forensic  botany:    •  Forensic  botany  found  thirty  different  types  of  pollen  in  his  intesAnes.    

•  Time  of  death  is  now  thought  to  be  Spring    -­‐  evidence  pollen  from  the  flowers  of  the  hop  hornbean  tree.    

•  In  1994  DNA  analysis  links  him  to  the  living  inhabitants  of  central  Europe.  

But  wait,  new  evidence  has  

caused  changes  again!  

Late  2009  

•  In  2009  Gostner  suggested  that  they  had  confused  the  colon  with  the  stomach.  

•  A  full  stomach  conflicted  with  the  view  that  Otzi  was  fleeing.  

•  In  the  iniAal  invesAgaAon  of  the  body  a  large  gash  was  made  across  the  lower  torso  (The  Austrian  window).  

In  late  2010  using  these  entry  points  and  new  technologies  a  

comprehensive  autopsy  took  place.    

The  latest  reconstrucAon  of  the  Iceman  

IniAal  findings  -­‐  2011  

•  Dark  shadow  in  the  skull  an  internal  clot    -­‐  blow  to  the  head  from  being  hit  or  hieng  the  ground  aPer  being  shot.  

•  CT  scan  –  arrow  pieced  a  major  artery  death  almost  immediate.  

•  Related  to  southern  not  central  Europeans.  •  Chemical  traces  in  his  bones  and  teeth  indicated  he  grew  up  northeast  of  Bolzano,  possibly  in  the  Isarco  River  Valley,  and  spent  his  adulthood  in  the  Venosta  Valley.  

•  Not  fleeing  –  had  a  large  and  leisurely  meal  resAng  in  a  spot  protected  from  the  wind.  

•  He  was  unaware  of  any  danger.    •  ExaminaAon  of  genes  now  indicate  he  had  brown  hair  and  eyes.    

•  ParAally  healed  hand  injury,  suggesAve  of  a  defensive  wound  from  an  earlier  fight.  

•  Earliest  known  human  infected  by  the  bug  that  causes  Lyme  disease.  

•  Likely  lactose  intolerant.