Latest Ötzi the Iceman Stories

April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online A new study from the University of Zurich's Centre for Evolutionary Medicine reveals that the Neolithic Ötzi iceman mummy had an astounding number of oral diseases and dentition problems that are still widespread today. Ötzi, also known as Ötzi the Iceman and the Man from Hauslabjoch, is a well-preserved mummy from approximately 3,300 BCE that was found in the Austrian-Italian Alps in 1991. According to researchers, Ötzi had...

Image Credit: © South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology Research of wounds on a 5,300-year-old body found frozen in the Italian Alps in 1991 has produced the oldest red blood cells ever identified, and suggests the well preserved “Iceman” did not immediately die from his injuries, nor did he live for a few days, scientists report in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface. The bloody discovery is a first for the “Iceman,” called Oetzi, which has been extensively studied since...

Scientists have sequenced the full genome of “Oetzi the Iceman", a 5,300-year-old body discovered frozen in the Eastern Alps in 1991, and determined he had brown eyes, was lactose intolerant, had blood type “O” and was predisposed to cardiovascular disease. The international team of researchers also found genetic material from the bacterium that causes Lyme disease, making Oetzi the earliest documented case of the infection. “Sequences corresponding to ~60% of the genome of...

A more-than-5,000-year-old mummified body found frozen in the Oetzal Alps in South Tyrol on September 19, 1991 will receive a new face for the 20th anniversary of its discovery. Two Dutch experts -- Alfons and Adrie Kennis -- have made a new model of the Iceman Oetzi (also known as Ötzi) with brown eyes. It will be part of a new exhibit at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano. Recent research has shown the Iceman, nearly 5,300 years old, did not have blue eyes as once...

ROME -- Researchers suspect the corpse of a 5,000-year-old mummy frozen in the Italian Alps might have been contaminated by bacteria since its discovery in 1991, a doctor who cares for the body said Monday. X-rays have shown bubbles in the bones that could be caused by bacteria, said Eduard Egarter Vigl, in charge of preserving the mummy at the South Tyrol Archaeological Museum in Bolzano, Italy. The museum is trying to find local companies that can analyze the air in the sealed-off chamber...