BOLZANO, Italy — The world's oldest mummy, the Italian Iceman known as Otzi, was defrosted Monday to allow scientists to take samples they hope will allow them to learn more about the man who roamed the Alps 5,300 years ago.
The Iceman was found sticking out of a glacier by two climbers nine years ago in the Otztaler Alps on the Austro-Italian border. He had been freeze-dried 10,000 feet above sea-level.
The mummy, a brown leathery corpse dubbed Otzi after the valley in which he was found, is kept in conditions that mimic the natural environment in which he was preserved. He remains in a special chamber kept at a constant temperature of 21.2 degrees Fahrenheit.
But Sunday, scientists turned on heaters to bring the temperature up to 35.6 degrees, allowing a team of scientists from various disciplines Monday to examine the body and take samples — the first time since tests were carried out shortly after Ozti's discovery in 1991.
Professor Peter Vanezis, a forensic scientist from Glasgow in Scotland who usually helps police solve modern-day crimes, wants to shed light on how the Iceman died.
The most common hypothesis is that he was a shepherd who took shelter from a snowstorm and died of exposure, but the exact cause of death has never been firmly established.
Vanezis told Reuters he had taken samples of skin and fatty tissue from the back and the front of the body. He plans to analyze iron deposits in the samples to show where the blood was concentrated when Otzi died.
"It won't tell us exactly how he died, but it might give us a clue as to the category in which we place his death," he said.
"Whether he died a natural death and was taken there and just lay on his back, or whether he died accidentally and fell forward and didn't move."
Earlier tests showed that Otzi had broken ribs and possibly some signs of external injury, but Vanezis said the chances of foul play were fairly remote.
"There were signs of injury to the ribs which indicate he had an accident previously, quite a bad fall by the looks of things, and there were signs that he had an injury quite close to death."
Another group of scientists from Rome is hoping to compare Otzi's DNA with that of other prehistoric remains found in the region to create a gene bank for the area.
As part of another project, Professor Franco Rollo from the University of Camerino took samples from the stomach to study the DNA of micro-organisms in the intestine.
That should tell researchers more about the Iceman's diet and also, by comparing the finds with research on a pre-Colombian mummy from Cuzco, should help scientists understand the process of natural mummification.
Wolfgang Muller from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich was more interested in Otzi's teeth.
He has taken tiny samples of tooth enamel from the mummy's right upper jaw which should conserve elements of minerals that will help locate where Otzi grew up.
"Tooth enamel preserves a trace elemental signature of everybody's early childhood," Muller said, explaining that the minerals come from food which picks them up from the soil.
"Since there is considerable geological variation in the area the Iceman possibly originates from, we at least expect clues about his origin on a large-scale basis," Muller said.