News in Brief Anthropology

Ötzi the Iceman froze to death

New analyses of mummy show head knocks, arrow wound not lethal

Ötzi the Tyrolean Iceman

DEEP FREEZE  Ötzi the Tyrolean Iceman, shown here at a research center, died of exposure to cold temperatures in the Italian Alps, a new study concludes. Shoulder and head injuries may have made it difficult for the Copper Age hunter-gatherer to get around but that’s not what killed him, researchers say.

© South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology/EURAC/Samadelli/Staschitz

By Bruce Bower

- More than 2 years ago

NEW ORLEANS — Ever since Ötzi’s mummified body was found in the Italian Alps in 1991, researchers have been trying to pin down how the 5,300-year-old Tyrolean Iceman died.