Arrow didn't kill Otzi the Iceman – instead he froze to death

Courtesy of South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology

Scientists have proposed a new theory about how the Tyrolean Iceman died

Ötzi the Iceman didn't die after being shot with an arrow – it's more likely that he froze to death, scientists have now said.

Ötzi, also known as the Tyrolean Iceman, is one of the most famous mummies in the world. It was first discovered in the Italian Alps in 1991. It has not ceased to fascinate scientists ever since. Thanks to its excellent state of preservation, they have been able to find out a lot about his ancestry, his health and his lifestyle.

But perhaps the deepest mystery that they have tried to solve is how 5,300 years-old Ötzi died. In 2001, researchers established that he had been brutally murdered. They said he was killed by an arrow which pierced through his left shoulder.

A more recent study re-opened this ''cold case'' to investigate the context of his death – showing that the arrow had taken him by surprise when he was resting. It is also possible that he had eaten a meal of dried wild goat meat before dying.

But new research presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists suggests that the cause of death might not have been the injury sustained when the arrow hit him. The study, "Radiological and Forensic Re-evaluation of the Cause of Death of the Iceman, c. 5300 BP" points out that the Iceman may have succumbed to the cold. [...] ibtimes.co.uk/ / Link 2 


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