The Iceman: Medical Knowledge We Never Dreamed of 5,200 Years Ago

The Iceman: Medical Knowledge We Never Dreamed of 5,200 Years Ago

Linsey Dyer and Rick Effland

The finding of the Iceman has brought new light from the Stone Age. On September 19, 1991, a body was discovered originating out of the melting ice of a glacier in a small mountain passage named Tiesenjoch. After the rescue team retrieved the body from the ice, they transported it to the Department of Forensic Medicine in Innsbruck. Where Archaeologist determined the body was a natural mummy. Professor Rainer Henn, Forensic expert, from the Department of Forensic Medicine at the University of Innsbruck said "In order for a body to be completely mummified as in this case, the body must first dry completely then covered in ice and snow." The mummy was an male adult remarkably well preserved. The condition of his equipment and organic material were also preserved in good condition. The age of the body is about 3,300 BC or late Stone Age. After a lot of argument the body was found to be on the Italian side by 300 feet and now resides in a museum there. Today he is known by many as "Ötzi" for the valley in which he was found, but we also know him as "the Iceman."

A couple from Germany was hiking the mountains between Austria and Italy when they came up to what they thought was a doll protruding from the ice. As they got closer to the glacier the object was not a doll, but a human body. The couple immediately reported the find to the Similaun Refuge. The police were contacted and taken to the body in the mountain passage of Tiesnjoch. From there it took four days to free the body from the ice due to weather and lack of equipment. During the four days of freeing the iceman, leather, fur clothing and most important an axe with a cooper blade were found. These items gave clues the body had not died recently. Konrad Spindler of the University of Innsbruck's Institute for Prehistory, stated, "I needed only one second to see that the body was 4,000 years old." We now realize that the Iceman lived much earlier than this - in fact 5, 200 years ago.

The Iceman was a male standing at 5 foot 2 inches and weighing 110 pounds. The age of death was between 25 to 35 years old. The man died 5,200 years ago. The left thigh and buttock were damaged in drilling the body free. Absence of the Iceman's genitals and two patches of skin were the only parts of the body effected. Overall the Iceman was extremely well preserved. The body was not the only article well preserved. Tools and clothing also found helped researchers come to ages and dates of the life of the Iceman. The Iceman carried a leather backcarraige with bows and arrows along with an axe and a repair kit with pieces of rope, bone, rock, and string. The axe which was found to be the most helpful had a shaft of yew and a blade of cooper. Cooper was mined and used for implements during a period in the late Stone Age. Markus Egg a young archaeologist said, "there were only two ways for a man to be rich. He could have a great mass of cattle or a great mass of wheat, but these are not good treasures - you cannot carry them around." Egg took the Iceman's copper ax blade in his hand. "This is a good treasure!" The axe was the most important clue to the dating of the Iceman.

The research on the body of the Iceman is being examined by 40 different research teams which work together on finding more information about life in the Stone Ages and for future information. The body is stored at a temperature of -6 degrees Celsius with a relative humidity of 98%. Extreme care is taken in studying the body. The Iceman is wrapped in several layers of insulation in the cooling cell to keep the body under the same conditions as it was conserved in the ice. When the research team brings the body out to study, it is placed in a chamber with a stable micro-climate and studied at most for 30 to 40 minutes. After the usage is up the body is wrapped back with layers of insulation and replaced back in the cooling cell, where it has to stay for several days before it can be examined again. The care of studying and preserving the body are critical steps in keeping the body in exact condition as it was found. One major mystery about the Iceman is how the body preserved for more than 5,000 years, and if the cooling cell can give the body the temperature the natural surroundings gave him.

The conditions of the body show no obvious signs of the cause of death, but considering the size of body and the elevation in which the body was found, exhaustion was a logical explanation. The climate in the Alps at the time the Iceman died was around October just before the climate turned colder, this means that there were areas in the mountains that had no snow or ice on them in the summer seasons. The Iceman died on such a spot. The fact that insects did not lay eggs in his eyes indicates that he died in late summer, just before the snowfall. The days were warm and the nights were cold and because of the different climates the body was quickly dehydrated. To keep the body so well preserved, the body had been covered in a thin layer of snow, which completed the freeze-drying process before it changed into ice. The body stayed preserved for so long because the body was lying in a shallow depression close to the watershed, so that the glacier grew above him during the following millennia without catching him and carrying him downhill.

Researchers have been working very hard at the department of Anatomy at the University of Innsbruck for the last six years to uncover and discover new information about the history of our planet. The Iceman has taken researchers further into the Stone Ages than anyone has ever been. The techniques and strategies being used to work and study on such an ancient body is taken to the extreme precautions. The study of the body has to be done in an perfect atmosphere, handled in intense delicacy, and because of these precautions we are able to learn and explore our past with more knowledge.

Perhaps the greatest legacy of the Iceman, considering that he is 5,200 years old, is the medical knowledge people possessed at that time. We know he suffered from many things - not unexpected for the life he must have led. Yet, the medical treatment that his world knew of is what amazes us the most.

He was infested with worms and used natural remedies to treat them. An analysis of the content of the Ice Man's rectum revealed Trichuris trichiura eggs. Trichuris trichiura , or whipworm, causes abdominal pain and anemia. Evidence suggests that Ice Man knew he had intestinal parasites, and was treating the infestation with a natural remedy. Among his belongings, researchers found two walnut-sized lumps tied to leather thongs. Analysis of the lumps revealed that they were the fruit of a bracket fungus known as Piptoporus betulinus. Piptoporus botulinus contains oils that are toxic to parasites and compounds that act as strong laxatives, compounds that would cause the dead and dying worms and their eggs to be excreted.

Researchers have also discovered that the Ice Man had several "tattoos," marks made by cutting into the skin, filling the incisions with herbs, and burning the herbs, thereby cauterizing the incisions. The tattoos may have formed an ancient acupuncture chart used long before the therapy was developed in the Far East. It looks like an early form of acupuncture originated in central Europe. The 5,200-year-old corpse had 15 groups of simple tattoos on the back and legs which tallied with those used in modern acupuncture. Eighty percent of the points correspond to those used in acupuncture today. Five groups of linear tattoos along the spine were probably applied to combat back pains, and were found to be located on or close to classical acupuncture points. There is evidence of specialist knowledge that went far beyond basic therapy. A cross tattooed on the Iceman's left ankle and a "master point" on his back could have been matched up to treat rheumatism.

Ancient Chinese acupuncture is thought to have originated in about 1,000 BC. The evidence from the iceman's therapeutic tattoos suggests acupuncture may date as early as 3,200 BC and may not have originated in China. This is clearly the oldest evidence we have of an early form of acupuncture in the world.

Why the iceman's skin was tattooed rather than pierced without leaving scars is unclear. Either the fresh wounds were rubbed with charcoal to create slight irritation and a longer-lasting effect, or the tattooes were intended as a kind of chart to show relatives where to massage and relieve the pain.

Was the Iceman Murdered?

The Iceman's cause of death had remained a mystery — and a source of considerable speculation for nearly a decade. The Iceman, it turns out, was a victim of Stone Age violence. He had been shot in the back with an arrow. While recently taking X-rays of the mummy to identify areas for obtaining tissue samples, scientists spotted an unusual shape just beneath the left shoulder — a very dense object shaped like an arrowhead. Further investigations of the surface of the back skin show clearly the point of entry for the arrow and the course of the channel.

The arrow pierced the shoulder in an area of dense muscle tissue between the scapula (shoulder blade) and the ribs, producing a mortal wound that would have caused extensive bleeding and could have paralyzed the arm. The blow would have killed the Iceman in a matter of five to six hours.