脰tzi, the 5300-year-old mummy found in an Alpine glacier in 1991, may not have been alone when he died.
快猫短视频s who examined the man鈥檚 internal tissues for the first time this week suspect he may have been buried by companions. Other researchers took samples aimed at showing where 脰tzi lived as a baby, and who his descendants are.
Peter Vanezis, professor of forensic medicine at Glasgow University, examined the mummy when it was briefly thawed this week at its home at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, Italy. He is dubious about popular theories that 脰tzi was a lone shepherd or fugitive who died in an accident.
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鈥淴-rays and computerised tomography show he had arthritis and hardened arteries,鈥� says Vanezis. 脰tzi was also in his forties, elderly for the time.
鈥淎 man like that would be unlikely to be in the high mountains without companions,鈥� says Vanezis. 鈥淲e examined the body and found no indications of any scavenging by animals.鈥�
That, and the fact that 脰tzi still had all his hiking gear, suggests the body was protected after death by burial. Vanezis took tissue samples from 脰tzi鈥檚 back and front, to compare their iron content. 鈥淚f the body lay on its back after death, blood will have pooled there, so there will be more iron,鈥� he says.
A small wound on the back of 脰tzi鈥檚 head also looks like lesions that form in bodies lying on their backs, he says. That would make it likely he was buried. 鈥淚t is extremely unusual for a body lying where it fell to be on its back,鈥� says Yanezis.
Meanwhile, Mark Thomas of the Centre for Genetic Anthropology at University College London is hoping 脰tzi鈥檚 male, Y chromosome will reveal his living relatives. His mitochondrial DNA, inherited from his mother, shows he is related to modern Europeans.
鈥淏ut types of mitochondrial DNA are distributed widely,鈥� and could not pinpoint 脰tzi鈥檚 relatives more closely, says Thomas. 鈥淭ypes of Y chromosomes tend to have more local distribution,鈥� he says. This might be because women moved around more than men in the ancient world, as a result of marrying into other communities.
Wolfgang M眉ller of the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich could pinpoint things further. This week he took samples of 脰tzi鈥檚 tooth enamel. Enamel is made in early childhood and contains the same ratios of strontium, rubidium and lead as the bedrock where you grow up. M眉ller will compare the enamel with rock strata from around the region.
Pollen from the hornbeam tree in 脰tzi鈥檚 intestine has already revealed that he was in a valley south of the Alps, in springtime, just before he died. But there have been almost no other studies of 脰tzi鈥檚 internal tissues, as Italy and Austria battled over who owned the mummy.
Italy won in 1998 and the scientific management committee allows only limited invasive sampling. This week marks the first time since the dispute was settled that 脰tzi has been thawed for study.