Ötzi – the Iceman
The Discovery
Thursday, September 19, 1991 – 1.30 p.m.Tisenjoch - 3210 m above sea levelÖtztal Alps (South Tyrol, Italy)
On a sunny day two hikers, Erika and Helmut Simon, from Nuremberg in Germany, were walking in the Ötztal Alps. Descending from the Finail peak in the Tisenjoch area, the Simons decided to take a shortcut and left the marked footpath. As they walked past a rocky gully filled with meltwater, they noticed something brown on the gully bed. At first they thought it must be some sort of rubbish, but on closer inspection they realized with horror that they had discovered a human corpse.
Only the back of the head, the bare shoulders and part of his
back jutted out of the ice and meltwater. The corpse lay with its chest
against a flat rock and its face obscured. Beside the corpse the two
hikers noticed several pieces of rolled-up birch bark.
Before leaving the scene, they took a photograph of what they thought to be the unfortunate victim of a mountaineering accident a few years back.
At this point nobody could have imagined that the dead man and the objects around him were soon to gain worldwide fame.
The story of a 20th century archaeological sensation was about to unfold.
The Recovery
The day after the corpse was discovered, an Austrian team undertook the first attempt to remove the man from the ice. By then the weather had decidedly taken a turn for the worse. Using a pneumatic drill, the gendarme Anton Koler and the mountain refuge keeper Markus Pirpamer tried to free the corpse. Due to the constant flow of meltwater, the two men were obliged to work virtually under water, resulting in damage to the corpse’s left hip. With the weather worsening by the minute and lacking the necessary tools, the team were forced to abandon their work.
Using ice picks and ski poles, the team managed to free the mummy fully from the ice. From the meltwater emerged numerous pieces of leather and hide, string, straps and clumps of hay, which were placed in a pile beside the corpse.
The corpse was packed in a body bag along with the latest finds and flown by helicopter to the town of Vent in the Austrian Ötz Valley.
In Vent the mummy and the finds – together with those collected by Alois Pirpamer the previous day and the axe taken earlier to the gendarmerie post in Sölden – were placed in a wooden coffin. At the request of the public prosecutor, the corpse was taken by hearse to the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Innsbruck.
The Scene of the Find
The Border Question
In accordance with the 1919 Treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye between Austria and the Allied powers, the border was drawn along the watershed between the Inn and Etsch Valleys. In the area of the Tisenjoch, however, the glacier made it difficult to establish the exact location of the watershed.
Before leaving the scene, they took a photograph of what they thought to be the unfortunate victim of a mountaineering accident a few years back.
At this point nobody could have imagined that the dead man and the objects around him were soon to gain worldwide fame.
The story of a 20th century archaeological sensation was about to unfold.
The Recovery
The Recovery
Friday, September 20, 1991The day after the corpse was discovered, an Austrian team undertook the first attempt to remove the man from the ice. By then the weather had decidedly taken a turn for the worse. Using a pneumatic drill, the gendarme Anton Koler and the mountain refuge keeper Markus Pirpamer tried to free the corpse. Due to the constant flow of meltwater, the two men were obliged to work virtually under water, resulting in damage to the corpse’s left hip. With the weather worsening by the minute and lacking the necessary tools, the team were forced to abandon their work.
Saturday, September 21, 1991
The next day attempts at recovering the corpse were again hindered – this time due to the fact that no helicopters were available. On that day the world-famous mountaineers Hans Kammerlander and Reinhold Messner happened to be on the scene. They observed the first details of the dead man’s clothing and equipment.Sunday, September 22, 1991
On Sunday the rescue team leader Alois Pirpamer and Franz Gurschler made their way to the Tisenjoch. Their aim was to prepare the corpse for recovery the following day. They collected the strewn objects and packed them in a plastic rubbish bag. The very same day Alois Pirpamer returned to his hotel in Vent with the sack slung over his shoulder.Monday, September 23, 1991
On the Monday the corpse was finally extracted from the ice. Snow had fallen overnight, the temperature had dropped precipitously, and the corpse was once again frozen solid in ice. The recovery was carried out under the leadership of Rainer Henn of Innsbruck University Institute of Forensic Medicine, with cameras capturing the event. As no archaeologist was present, the filmed footage proved to be an important record.Using ice picks and ski poles, the team managed to free the mummy fully from the ice. From the meltwater emerged numerous pieces of leather and hide, string, straps and clumps of hay, which were placed in a pile beside the corpse.
The corpse was packed in a body bag along with the latest finds and flown by helicopter to the town of Vent in the Austrian Ötz Valley.
In Vent the mummy and the finds – together with those collected by Alois Pirpamer the previous day and the axe taken earlier to the gendarmerie post in Sölden – were placed in a wooden coffin. At the request of the public prosecutor, the corpse was taken by hearse to the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Innsbruck.
The Scene of the Find
The Iceman was discovered in a 40 m-long, 2.5- to 3 m-deep and 5- to 8 m-wide rocky gully surrounded by steep stone walls at an altitude of 3210 m above sea level. The bed of the gully is strewn with large boulders. The mummy lay on a large light-coloured granite slab at the western end of the rock formation. This formation protected the find from the enormous forces of the ice, which slowly built up above it. At the time the border was drawn in 1922, this area – now free of ice – was covered by a 20 m-thick layer of snow.The Border Question
The Border Question
Soon after the mummy was recovered, rumours spread that it had actually been found on the Italian side of the border and not – as originally thought – on Austrian soil.In accordance with the 1919 Treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye between Austria and the Allied powers, the border was drawn along the watershed between the Inn and Etsch Valleys. In the area of the Tisenjoch, however, the glacier made it difficult to establish the exact location of the watershed.
A new survey of the border carried out on October 2, 1991
clarified the matter. It turned out that the find was 92.56 m from the
border in South Tyrol, i.e. in Italy.
Although the find site drains towards the Inn Valley, i.e. towards the north, the boundary established after the First World War remains valid under international law.
The province of South Tyrol therefore claimed property rights but entrusted the finds as a whole to Innsbruck University until scientific examinations could be completed. The South Tyrolean authorities also gave permission for the Institute of Primaeval and Early History at Innsbruck University to carry out further archaeological investigations at the find scene.
Today a four-meter-high stone pyramid marks the spot where the glacier mummy was discovered.
Excavations in the Ice
The first archaeological survey of the scene where the Iceman was discovered was carried out between October 3 and 5, 1991. Its aim was to document the exact position of the mummy and the rest of the finds in the form of a detailed contour plan. However, the onset of winter put an end to further archaeological investigations that year.
Although the find site drains towards the Inn Valley, i.e. towards the north, the boundary established after the First World War remains valid under international law.
The province of South Tyrol therefore claimed property rights but entrusted the finds as a whole to Innsbruck University until scientific examinations could be completed. The South Tyrolean authorities also gave permission for the Institute of Primaeval and Early History at Innsbruck University to carry out further archaeological investigations at the find scene.
Today a four-meter-high stone pyramid marks the spot where the glacier mummy was discovered.
Excavations in the Ice
Excavations in the Ice
For the first time archaeologists were faced with the prospect of excavating a find on a glacier.The first archaeological survey of the scene where the Iceman was discovered was carried out between October 3 and 5, 1991. Its aim was to document the exact position of the mummy and the rest of the finds in the form of a detailed contour plan. However, the onset of winter put an end to further archaeological investigations that year.
Between July 20 and August 25, 1992, a second archaeological
survey was carried out by several institutes under the direction of the
Ancient Monuments Office of the autonomous province of Bolzano.
Although long periods of fine weather in 1992 had melted much of the snow, large quantities of snow in the crevices between the blocks of stone had to be melted using steam jets and hot-air blowers.
Numerous small finds came to light in the sediment covering the gully floor: further pieces of the Iceman’s kit including leather and hide remnants, grasses, string, pieces of skin, muscle fibres, hair and a fingernail. The section of the broken longbow still embedded in the ice was also recovered.
The Iceman’s bearskin cap was found near the stone slab on which the Iceman had lain.
In the course of the two surveys the entire gully in which the find was discovered was exhaustively examined.
Why did Ötzi Remain Intact?
1. He must have been covered by snow shortly after his death and later by ice. Only in this way could the body have been protected from predators and decomposition.
Whether the mummy ever resurfaced again in the course of several thousand years cannot be determined with certainty. Paeleoclimatic data show that warm phases occurred in the second half of the third century BC and during the Roman period. During these phases the ice in the gully may have melted.
Although long periods of fine weather in 1992 had melted much of the snow, large quantities of snow in the crevices between the blocks of stone had to be melted using steam jets and hot-air blowers.
Numerous small finds came to light in the sediment covering the gully floor: further pieces of the Iceman’s kit including leather and hide remnants, grasses, string, pieces of skin, muscle fibres, hair and a fingernail. The section of the broken longbow still embedded in the ice was also recovered.
The Iceman’s bearskin cap was found near the stone slab on which the Iceman had lain.
In the course of the two surveys the entire gully in which the find was discovered was exhaustively examined.
Why did Ötzi Remain Intact?
Why did Ötzi Remain Intact?
It was thanks to an incredible chain of coincidences:1. He must have been covered by snow shortly after his death and later by ice. Only in this way could the body have been protected from predators and decomposition.
Whether the mummy ever resurfaced again in the course of several thousand years cannot be determined with certainty. Paeleoclimatic data show that warm phases occurred in the second half of the third century BC and during the Roman period. During these phases the ice in the gully may have melted.
2. The deep gully, which runs perpendicular
to the direction of flow of the glacier, prevented the body and
implements from being ground up by the base of the glacier. The
enormous mass of ice flowed over the gully, leaving the scene of the
find unscathed.
3. The find was exposed to damaging sunlight, wind and weather only for a short period in 1991 between the time the mummy thawed and the time it was recovered.
3. The find was exposed to damaging sunlight, wind and weather only for a short period in 1991 between the time the mummy thawed and the time it was recovered.
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