Discoveries

September 01, 2023

The Iceman Cometh

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A new genetic study on Europe’s oldest mummy dispelled some previous assertions about the appearance and origins of the 5,300-year-old man famously known as “Ötzi the Iceman,” Nature Magazine reported.

Italian hikers first discovered the prehistoric mummy in the Ötztal Alps bordering Austria and Italy in 1991.

A 2012 DNA study on his remains suggested that Ötzi had long hair, pale skin and Eurasian steppe ancestry – from ancient herding people who hailed from eastern Europe and central Asia. The latter finding was surprising because previous research had indicated that steppe people arrived in Europe a millennium after Ötzi’s death.

But some scientists noted that Ötzi’s genome sequencing was not done right, while also pointing out some other discrepancies about his appearance: His mummified body had dark pigmentation and very little hair.

Because DNA analysis has improved since 2012, a research team studied Ötzi’s exposed hip bone and found surprising details about the ancient man who died from an arrow shot.

Ötzi had neither steppe ancestry nor European hunter-gatherer genes. The results showed that he had Anatolian-farmer ancestry, an ancient group that lived between the Mediterranean and Black seas, who are thought to have migrated into Europe and mixed with local hunter-gatherers.

The analysis also revealed that he had more melanin on his skin – thus darker skin – and also carried genetic markers of male-pattern baldness.

The authors explained that the study suggests that Anatolians were already in Europe at the time the iceman was alive.

This story originally appeared in the September 01, 2023 newsletter, Old Story, New Horrors.