More About Ötzi

Ötzi the Iceman is the iconic G2a guy. He lived somewhere around 3400 to 3100 BCE in what is now Northern Italy. His mummified body was discovered in 1991, partially trapped in ice.

DNA testing eventually showed he belonged to yDNA haplogroup G-L91, a “cousin” branch to the Swiss Hauris, who are G-L42.

Information about Ötzi continues to accumulate. We know more about him than ever before.

His death is now known to be considerably more dramatic than was first thought. In fact, many reports suggest he was probably being chased at the time of his death:

“Otzi was crossing the Tisenjoch pass in the Val Senales valley when he was shot in the back with an arrow by a Southern Alpine archer and became naturally preserved in the ice. The arrowhead is still embedded in his left shoulder and was not found until 2001. He would have bled out and died shortly after being shot because the arrow pierced a vital artery. There is also a wound on the back of his head, but that may have occurred when he fell after being struck by the arrow.

“A cut on his right hand, indicating hand-to-hand combat, never had a chance to heal before he died. This means that conflict happened before he was shot, perhaps hours or days before, and may have led to the second clash that killed him.

“The injury to his right hand would have made it difficult for Otzi to prepare his weapons for another attack. This is most likely why the bow and arrows found with him were unfinished: to replace ones that were lost or damaged in the previous fight.“

If this is a topic that interests you, I recommend you read the full article at CNN, then search online for other current articles. There’s a wealth of information.

• Jessie Yeung, “Frozen moss reveals fatal final journey of 5,300-year-old ice mummy“, CNN (Oct. 31, 2019).