Mountainer Reinhold Messner, right, and colleague inspect the mummified remains of Ötzi the Iceman following his discovery in 1991.
Scientists reconstruct Ötzi the Iceman’s frantic final climb
The famed mummy died from an arrow to the back on a high Alpine mountain pass 5,300 years ago. Now researchers are tracing his unusual movements right before his murder.
A wounded—and possibly wanted—man, Ötzi the Iceman spent his final days on the move high up in the Alps until he was felled with an arrow to the back. About 5,300 years later, archaeologists are still unraveling the mystery of his death. Now, a new analysis of mossy plant remains from the Iceman’s murder site may reveal details of his frantic, final climb.
Since 1991, when hikers in the Ötztal Alps discovered his frozen, naturally mummified body near the border between Italy and Austria, researchers have counted more than 60 tattoos on Ötzi's skin and shown that he was wearing a leather coat stitched together from the hides of several sheep and goats. They recently found his lost stomach,
