Otzi The Iceman Essay

Otzi the Iceman

Introduction

Today I will be writing about Otzi the Iceman. Otzi was discovered frozen in the ice by German hikers. When he died he was around the age of 45. This report will cover where he lived, his lifestyle, how he died and methods of investigation. The purpose of this report is to give you an understanding of what life was like for Otzi the Iceman and how scientist used methods of investigation.

Where he was discovered and how he was discovered

Otzi was found on 19th of September 1991 in south terminal mountains Austrian Italian border. Hikers Helmut and Erika Simon were the founders of Otzi the Iceman, off track going down a rocky gully they found Otzi head down and shoulders sticking up frozen in the freezing ice,

3210 m above sea level. It took 4 days to get Otzi out of the ice due to complications over who owned the land and a helicopter was not available. On the 23 of September the body was finally recovered and was flown by helicopter to a vent in Ötztal Valley, Austria and he was placed in a wooden coffin. He was the drove to Institute of Forensic Medicine in Innsbruck.

This map shows where Otzi the Iceman was found This is a photo of when otzi was found.

when and where he lived
On the 24th of September 1991 at Innsbruck University, scientist Konrad Spindler estimated he is about 4,000 years old.

He is also said to of lived between 3,300 BCE and lived in the copper age. Scientist discovered that he was brought up in the north of Bolzano village of Feldthurns as a child, they worked this out by analyzing pollen, dust grains and his teeth. Later in life, he went about 50 km further north of the village.

How he died

cut with a knife by the supposed attackers. He was carrying a bow and arrow with him and shot to people with this and they did blood analysis to reveal this, so he shot the first person and recovered to bow and shot the text. Otzi was attacked n a mountain at the bottom he had escaped from the attackers and headed uphill. The scientist that were discovering him were able to see what his last meal was, it was a fatty goat and there was still got fur on it when he ate it. Otzi is said to of not feeling well after he had been attacked, they know this there was hope of hornbeam in his stomach this is an ancient medicine, he probably had nausea or indigestion. While he was eating scientist think the same attacker came back and shot him in the back they know this because the arrow was partly there when he was found and he would of bleed to death, but he is said to have not died from the arrow but from a blow to the head and bruising on the skull and brain this was shown via

X-ray.

How was preserved
Otzi the Iceman is a very well preserved, scientists were astonished when the figured out he had all his skin.

Because of the freezing cold climate, he was preserved in the glacier ice. In May 2012, scientist revealed that Otzi the Iceman had intact blood cells, they are said to bed the oldest blood cells found, when a human dies the blood cells have either shrunken or have disappeared, but because Otzi was frozen his blood cells were frozen too. In February 2012 DNA analysis revealed that Otzi was lactose intolerant, this also supports

the

Methods of investigation
In 2001 Otzi had a Cat Scan, this showed that during the ambush he had a blow to the head, this had knocked his cerebrum this is a part of the brain that controls planning and memory this was knocked to the back of his skull, this is said to of happened during the attack. X-rays showed that he had bad joints, hips, shoulders, knees, and spine. This may have been caused by long walks over the mountains, Otzi is also thought to be a shepherd because of this. The X-ray also showed that during his life he had broken several of his ribs and his nose. Scientist revealed the oldest known evidence of Lyme disease in Otzi DNA testings.

This is a photo of when Otzi Had one of his CAT Scans

His lifestyle
Scientist Christopher Ruff says that Otzi lifestyle includes long walks as I have mentioned and or he could have been involved in copper smelting because high levels of copper were found in his hair and Otzi had pure copper tools and weapons. Otzi The Iceman didn't have good medicals attention because he had joint pain, teeth decay, and joint disease. Otzi had a wide range of foods in his diet from meat, grains, and fruits these were some of the things he had eaten in the last 48 hours before he died. Otzi's tools and clothing were close by when scientists found him, some of the clothing items he was wearing were oven grass cloak plus a goats coat, a belt, leggings, loincloth and shoes, these were all handmade items made with different types of animal skins and fur. Some of Otzi tools were found scattered around and on him, as we know we had a copper axe he also carried with him, a flint-bladed knife, a quiver with 14 rows in it and a knife. Otzi the Iceman carried a fire starting kit with him around his waist as a belt. In the kit which was made out of calf leather in it was a Fungus Tool used to start fires and some broken up cedar wood. Some Austrian claim that they are Otzi's great, great, great, great, grandchildren, but no one has yet proved that statement

The first photo is of some of the weapons found with otzi and his fire starter kit
The second photo is some clothing that otzi wore

Tattoos
Various scans and further studies have shown that Otzi has a total of 61 tattoos located in different spots on his body. These tattoos are the tattoos you can get today with needles it was done by putting fine cuts into the skin and rubbing charcoal into them, but they could have been more for therapeutic reason not for decoration, well that's what they think. The reason they could be therapeutically is because where they are located, they of on the joints so it could have been used for joint pains.

Here are some of the many tattoos found on otzi