He died more than 5,000 years ago, shot in the back with an arrow by a mysterious assailant in the frozen Alps.
But Ötzi, the iceman, the oldest mummy in Europe, continues to reveal secrets thanks to the numerous tattoos he has on his wrinkled body.
Although he lived between 3350 and 3105 BC, Tennessee scientists claim to have solved the mystery of how these tattoos were made.
They say the tattoos were probably created by Ötzi himself using a technique known as “hand thrusting,” in which a sharp hand instrument repeatedly stabbed the skin.
One of the experts tattooed himself using multiple ancient techniques to find out which one resulted in marks most similar to those of the Iceman.
Ötzi the Iceman is the natural mummy of a man who lived between 3350 and 3105 BC. Ötzi’s remains were discovered on September 19, 1991 in the Ötztal Alps.
Ötzi presents some of the first direct evidence of tattoos in the human past, they say in their new study, published in the journal European Journal of Archeology.
The old man had a total of 61 tattoos, which consisted of 19 groups of black lines, mostly less than an inch long.
Despite decades of study, it has remained unclear how the Iceman tattoos were created and what tools and methods were used.
Popular discussions describe that his tattoos were made using an “incision technique,” which involves first cutting the skin and then rubbing it with plant-based pigment.
But researchers with the Tennessee Division of Archeology (TDOA) now dispute this, claiming instead that a “poking by hand” technique was used.
This is where the sharp instrument is dipped into the tattoo ink and then inserted into the skin point by point.
“One of the early discussions of the Iceman marks proposed that they were not traditional tattoos, but rather places where plant matter had been packed into incised wounds and then set on fire,” said TDOA archaeologist Aaron Deter-Wolf. Scientific alert.
‘There is absolutely no evidence of that, and over time the part about the fire was left behind, but the idea that they were cut off persisted.
Reproduction of Oetzi the Similaun Man at the South Tyrolean Archeology Museum in Bolzano, South Tyrol, Italy
The 5,300-year-old mummified corpse was found by hikers in 1991, melting in the ice of the Alps, about 3,210 meters (10,532 feet) above sea level.
Experts tattooed themselves using multiple ancient techniques to discover which resulted in marks most similar to those of the Iceman.
“Most archaeologists who have talked about Ötzi’s tattoos in recent years are honest in saying that we don’t know how they were made, but the idea still appears in almost every popular media discussion.”
Deter-Wolf worked with tattoo artist Danny Riday of Temple Tattoo in New Zealand to reveal more about how Ötzi got his tattoos.
Using four different tattoo techniques, they replicated Ötzi’s tattoos on Riday’s leg, allowed them to heal, and then compared them to the ancient originals.
“Every time a tattoo tool breaks the skin, it produces a small wound, and all wounds have distinctive features that depend on how they were created,” Deter-Wolf said.
While the incision technique provides straight, clean blade edges, the hand-poking technique results in small overlapping circles or irregular shapes.
The team found that the incisions on the iceman looked more like the latter and were probably made with a bone shape or a copper awl, a small pointed tool.
Using four different tattoo techniques, they replicated Ötzi’s tattoos on Danny Riday’s leg. he allowed them to heal and then compared them to the ancient originals. Pictured are tattoos on Riday’s leg the day they were done (left) and six months later (right).
Comparison of Riday’s (AF) tattoos with Ötzi’s (G) tattoos suggested that the iceman used the “hand pushing” technique.
Deter-Wolf told ScienceAlert that these types of artifacts appear in the archaeological record of the Ötzi Alps where his mummified body was found.
None have ever been identified as tattoo tools, but the team’s new study may lead archaeologists to reevaluate what they were used for.
Ötzi’s frozen body was found accompanied by his clothes, his equipment and a large number of traces of plants and fungi preserved on his clothes and in his entrails.
High in the Italian Alps 5,300 years ago, Ötzi the Iceman was shot in the back with an arrow and likely bled to death within minutes.
In addition to this discovery, researchers discovered that Ötzi was descended from the first farmers who emigrated from Anatolia. Pictured is an artist’s impression of what experts believe he looked like.
After collapsing in the ice, her body was preserved until its discovery in 1991, making it the oldest mummy in Europe.
Since then, mystery and intrigue have continued, including the investigation into who could have killed him, and new secrets continue to be discovered.
Last year, another team of scientists announced that Ötzi had dark skin, dark eyes and a bald head, not blonde and hairy as previously thought.
In addition to this discovery, researchers discovered that Ötzi was descended from the first farmers who emigrated from Anatolia.
A study of his remains conducted in 2018 concluded that an arrow dealt a fatal blow to Ötzi by severing the nerve in his shoulder and hitting his major blood vessels.