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CeNS Colloquium

Place: Kleiner Physik-Hörsaal
Date: 22.11.2013, Time: 15:30h

Ötzi and modern mummy research New insights into life and death of the 5300-year-old glacier mummy

Prof. Albert Zink
Institute for Mummies and the Iceman, EURAC research

The Tyrolean Iceman, commonly known as Ötzi, is the world oldest glacier mummy. He was found in September 1991 by two German Hikers on the Tisenjoch pass in the Italian part of the Ötztal Alps. The 5300-year-old Copper age individual is now conserved at the South Tyrolean Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, Italy, together with his accompanying artifacts. Since his discovery a variety of morphological, biochemical and molecular analyses have been performed that revealed important insights into his origin, his life habits and the circumstances surrounding his demise. In recent years, new radiological investigations, the sequencing of the complete genome and the application of modern technologies, such as Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Raman spectroscopy have added further interesting findings about the life and death of the Iceman. In the lecture the most important findings regarding the Tyrolean glacier mummy and the latest scientific results using modern scientific methods are presented.