Iceman

Iceman

Body of a man found sealed in a glacier in the Tirolean Ötztal Alps in 1991 and dated to 3300 BC. It has revealed significant details of everyday life during the Neolithic Period. The Iceman (also called Similaun Man or Ötzi, after the glacier and valley) is tattooed on parts of his body and has trimmed hair; it had previously been thought that tattooing and hair cutting began much later in Europe. He wore neatly stitched deerskin clothing, a woven grass cape, and leather shoes stuffed with grass for insulation. He carried two fungi on leather thongs, probably for medicinal purposes, and a birchbark box containing food supplies. His other equipment included a copper ax, a flint dagger, a yew bow, and a deerskin quiver holding expertly finished arrows. Although it was initially believed that he had died of freezing, X-ray examination in 2001 showed that an arrowhead was lodged in his left shoulder, suggesting that he had likely bled to death after being shot.