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Terms / Concepts / Features
Notes
- "Ötzi"
- is now on display in Bolzano, Italy
- is now considered to have died in the spring
- was killed by an arrow
- Bronze Age (copper and tin); bronze first appeared ca. 4,500 years
ago
- In March 1991 dust from the Sahara spread throughout parts of Europe;
May covered the Similaun
Glacier; July snow melted, 19 Sept. 1991
The Iceman was found
- The glacier was melting "at the spectacular rate"
of 4 inches / day
- In August 1992 a second, more extensive, excavation was undertaken
which uncovered more than 400 additional items
- Janet Levy: "Archaeology is multidisciplinary. It involves botanists,
zoologists, geologists, pathologists, medical doctors, museum curators.
. . ." [see below]
- Iceman: 5' 2", 25-35 (?) years old, 110 lbs, size 6 leather boots
- c14 dating
= 5,300 ybp; not the Bronze Age, but the Neolithic
(New Stone Age)
- lived around 3,300 B.C.
- they were expecting a date ca. 4,000 ybp
- a date +/- 500 years from 4,000 would be unexpected
- at one time The Iceman was covered with up to 200 feet of ice
- had fire striker, unfinished bow and arrows, flint knife, metal
ax, berries, small birchbark container with charcoal, a woven
grass bag, a grass cape, a wooden pack frame, 2 dried mushrooms
(medicine?) carried on a leather knotted strap, sloeberries (a
type of small plum), and traces of wheat
- the grass in the shoes is only found at an altitude of 10,000
ft.
- first estimate was that The Iceman was from the European Early
Bronze Age, or, ca. 2,000 B.C.
- tattoos
- 5,300 years old
- nearly 2,500 years older than any seen before
- made with charcoal, they consist of marks on knees, ankles,
and groups of lines on his back which, because of their placement,
had to be made by another person
- they may have served some ritual purpose in his social group
- it was unusual in that they were covered with clothing
- 3,300 B.C. copper first appears in the Neolithic
(New Stone Age)
- often in the form of flat ax heads
- axes like "Ötzi's," with flanges, usually date to 500 years
later, "in the Copper Age"
- ca. 2,200 B.C. the Bronze Age begins
- Bronze first appears in Europe ca. 4,500 ybp
- Flint was traded widely by Stone Age people
- The Monte Lessini hills are rich in flint
- 25 September 2000 The Iceman was slowly thawed to just above freezing
to take samples for further research:
Cultures
Sites
- Bolzano, Italy
- The Iceman is now on display here, at the Archaeological Museum
- Innsbrook, Austria
- Similaun Glacier (where the Iceman died)
- River Adige
- all settlements built on shores of lakes
- Hornstaad Hornlie, Germany
- on the edge of Lake Constance
- evidence dates back to 6,000 ybp
- 100 miles from the Iceman find
- Castel Juval
- a highly defensible site in the valley
- Monte Lessini
- hills here are rich in flint
- flint was used for everything, from starting fires to making
tools, and was traded widely by prehistoric peoples
Individuals
- "Ötzi"
- Specialists:
- Janet Levy -- archaeologist
- Rainer Henn
- Konrad Spindler
- Laurence Barfield
- prehistorian, expert on prehistoric flint
- and Paleolithic life in Italy
- Dietrich Ankner -- tin analysis in ax
- Robert Hedges -- carbon 14 analysis
- Dreiseitl Ekkenhard -- glacier specialist
- Werner Platzer -- anatomist
- Marcus Egg -- cultural expert, reconstruction, archaeologist
- Sigmor Bortenslager -- botanist
- Klaus Oeggl -- botanist, sloe berries
- Bodo Dieckmann -- archaeologist
Other Videos
- The Iceman (97 min., 1998, VC 4327)
"The discovery in the Alps of a 5300-year-old
corpse, perfectly preserved by five millennia of ice, allowed
a rare glimpse into the daily life of Stone Age man: his diet,
his clothing, and way of life. This program follows scientists
and archaeologists as they analyze his hair, clothing, and stomach
to uncover clues to how our ancestors lived and died. The program
offers a fascinating glimpse into one of the archaeological finds
of the century."
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