Arnold

Makalu Arnold
Alan Dale Griffiths JR
Intro to Archaeology
October 1, 2015
Otzi The Iceman

Have you ever heard stories of people being frozen in Ice? Well not

too long ago, that story becomes a reality. Thursday, September 19, 1991 around
1:30 p.m. two hikers named Erika and Helmut Simon, stubbled across a human
corpse, half frozen into the
mountain deep in the Otztal
Alps (Otzi, Discovery). This
becomes the final resting place
for the Frozen man, later to be
known as Otzi. He got his name
from the Otztal Alps in which
he was found on the Austrian-
Italian boarder, later to be
classified in South Tyrol, i.e. in Italy (Otzi, Border Question). I imagine how things
would go if I was the one executing the removal of the iceman. The South Tyrol
museum mentions that 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 (Otzi, Scene of the Find), being roughly around 10,530 feet

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above sea level. The iceman was halfway frozen into the mountain making it rather
difficult to brake free. I would try
and find the best and quickest way
to remove the iceman safely. On
September 20th the day after the
iceman was found, an Austrian
team makes their way up to try
and free him from the mountain
(Otzi, Recovery). However, the weather kicks in at full force to hinder the recovery
of the iceman (Otzi, Recovery). For three days people try to fight the conditions,
wanting to free the iceman from his resting place. It is not until the fourth day,
September 23, 1991 that the group finally gets the iceman free. If I was in charge,
things might have gone differently. The museum mentions, The recovery was
carried out under the leadership of Rainer Henn of Innsbruck University Institute of
Forensic Medicine, with cameras capturing the event (Otzi, Recovery). On October
3-5, 1991 Archeologists finally have the time to prospect and excavate the area in
which the iceman was found. This is the first time archeologists work on a glacier,
before the winter stops the investigation of information about the iceman (Otzi,
Recovery). A second archaeological survey began between July 20 and August 25, to
further the information about the iceman (Otzi, Recovery).
Imagine if I was the archaeologist getting the call about an iceman frozen in
the Alps. Getting a good background of the terrain and weather conditions would be
a great start before heading up to the newly discovered iceman. You prepare with

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the proper equipment to safely remove the iceman and to keep anything from
getting broken or ruined. Heading to the site as soon as possible would be ideal,
considering September is close to winter. I would use a Global positioning system
(GPS) to mark the exact location of the iceman, along with shovels and hand tools to
clear the area of snow and debris (Kelly and Thomas 2014, ch. 3). After everything
gets cleaned up, you have a clear space to work on, giving you the best outlook on
how to start digging. Deciding the best method for getting the iceman out in one
piece is key, to gather a maximum amount of information possible (Kelly and
Thomas 2014, ch. 6). Everyone would then work together to capture the goals of the
project in a timely manner. Hopefully my team of archaeologist and I can remove the
iceman within a day or two, after having recorded all the information possible. After
removal, it might be a good idea to keep digging around to find ever bit of
information one could think of. The iceman would then be moved to a lab
immediately after removal, to be examined for further information. Thus the
projects research goals would be achieved in time, and within budget (Kelly and
Thomas 2014, ch. 4).
Otzi the iceman was believed to have died more than 5,000 years ago up in
the Italian Alps (Lobell, Otzi). The first thing that was seen as significant was all the
tattoos on the iceman. Jarrett mentions, Otzi is covered with more than 50 tattoos
in the form of lines and crosses made up of small incisions in his skin into which
charcoal was rubbed (Lobell, Otzi), making Otzi the iceman one of the most famous
ancient tattooed people (Lobell, Otzi). The tattoos were not for symbolic, or
decorative reasoning, but for some form of therapy to help injuries, pain, and places

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of wear and tear (Lobell, Otzi). This gave us

important information for finding out that Otzi
used an acupunctural practice through tattoos
2,000 years earlier than what was previously
thought (Owen, 5 Facts). Another amazing find
in the body of Otzi that people thought could
not be possible due to the amount of time he
has been dead, was red-blood cells. Mark tells
you The nanotechnology probe and a high-
powered microscope also revealed traces of
fibrin, a clotting agent in human blood, which
suggests he would have died quickly (Miller,
5,300-year-). This gives us more information to
work with to learn all about his time and culture. Otzi the iceman is one interesting
man with how much he has gone through. It is very surprising how long the iceman
has been frozen with out major damage, along with everything they found with him.
He is an interesting human that tells many things about his lifestyle 5,300 years ago.

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Works Cited:
Kelly, Robert L. and David Hurst Thomas. Archaeology Down to Earth 5Th ed.

Homework chapters. Wadsworth: Yolanda Cossio, 2014. Print

Miller, Mark. "5,300-Year-Old Otzi the Iceman Yields Oldest Known Human Blood."

Ancient Origins. Stella Novus, 6 May 2015. Web. 30 Sept. 2015.

Lobell, Jarrett, and Eric Powell. "tzi, the Iceman - Archaeology Magazine."

Ancient Tattoos - Archaeology Magazine. Archaeological Institute of America,

9 Oct. 2013. Web. 30 Sept. 2015.

"Otzi - the Iceman." The Discovery. SOUTH TYROL MUSEUM OF ARCHAEOLOGY,

2013. Web. 30 Sept. 2015.

Owen, James. "5 Surprising Facts About Otzi the Iceman." National Geographic.

National Geographic Society, 18 Oct. 2013. Web. 30 Sept. 2015.