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Tuesday, 19 March 2024, 04:34 (04:34 AM) CDT, day 079 of 2024

Prehistoric Cultures

Fall 2012 Calendar -- DAY  [archive]

Fall 2012 Calendar  -- EVENING [archive]

Dates and Times to Remember 

class slides on-line 

Tuesday, 19 March 2024, 09:34 (09:34 AM) GMT, day 079 of 2024
. . . in History 
  . . . in Headlines
 

      Babel Fish Translation 
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OWL logo, Online Writing Lab, Purdue University.

 

"Ötzi" The Iceman

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The Iceman

"Ötzi"

(56 min., 1992, VC1981)

This is NOT the 1998 program by the same name
(56 min., 1992, UM DULUTH Library Multimedia GN778.22.I8 I23 1998 DVD)

more information
  on Ötzi

See also:
 
The Iceman

watch the video
Iceman Murder Mystery
 
online
(NOVA October, 2011)
  Iceman Murder Mystery HomePage

Ötzi the Iceman -- Wikipedia

search Otzi on JSTOR

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The Iceman's Ax

The Iceman’s Ax  

Abstract
Terms / Concepts
Notes
Cultures
Sites
Individuals

"The Life of Ötzi the Iceman" -- NPR update, 2003-10-31

"Iceman's discoverer dead in Alps" -- BBC, 23 October 2004

"Five thousand years ago, a man perished in an Alpine mountain storm. In 1991 his frozen body was found along with artifacts of his vanished way of life. The program covers the international effort to unlock the secrets of this astonishing discovery."

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Terms / Concepts / Features

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Notes

  • "Ötzi"

    • is now on display in Bolzano, Italy

    • is now considered to have died in the spring

    • was killed by an arrow

  • Bronze Age (copper and tin); bronze first appeared ca. 4,500 years ago

  • In March 1991 dust from the Sahara spread throughout parts of Europe; May covered the Similaun Glacier; July snow melted, 19 Sept. 1991 The Iceman was found

    • The glacier was melting "at the spectacular rate" of 4 inches / day

  • In August 1992 a second, more extensive, excavation was undertaken which uncovered more than 400 additional items

  • Janet Levy: "Archaeology is multidisciplinary. It involves botanists, zoologists, geologists, pathologists, medical doctors, museum curators. . . ." [see below]

  • Iceman: 5' 2", 25-35 (?) years old, 110 lbs, size 6 leather boots

    • c14 dating = 5,300 ybp; not the Bronze Age, but the Neolithic (New Stone Age)

      • lived around 3,300 B.C.

      • they were expecting a date ca. 4,000 ybp

      • a date +/- 500 years from 4,000 would be unexpected

    • at one time The Iceman was covered with up to 200 feet of ice

    • had fire striker, unfinished bow and arrows, flint knife, metal ax, berries, small birchbark container with charcoal, a woven grass bag, a grass cape, a wooden pack frame, 2 dried mushrooms (medicine?) carried on a leather knotted strap, sloeberries (a type of small plum), and traces of wheat

      • the grass in the shoes is only found at an altitude of 10,000 ft.

    • first estimate was that The Iceman was from the European Early Bronze Age, or, ca. 2,000 B.C.

  • tattoos

    • 5,300 years old

      • nearly 2,500 years older than any seen before

    • made with charcoal, they consist of marks on knees, ankles, and groups of lines on his back which, because of their placement, had to be made by another person

      • accupuncture points?

    • they may have served some ritual purpose in his social group

    • it was unusual in that they were covered with clothing

  • 3,300 B.C. copper first appears in the Neolithic (New Stone Age)

    • often in the form of flat ax heads

    • axes like "Ötzi's," with flanges, usually date to 500 years later, "in the Copper Age"

  • ca. 2,200 B.C. the Bronze Age begins

    • Bronze first appears in Europe ca. 4,500 ybp

  • Flint was traded widely by Stone Age people

    • The Monte Lessini hills are rich in flint

  • 25 September 2000 The Iceman was slowly thawed to just above freezing to take samples for further research:

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Cultures

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Sites

  • Bolzano, Italy

    • The Iceman is now on display here, at the Archaeological Museum

  • Innsbrook, Austria

  • Similaun Glacier (where the Iceman died)

    • Similaun Pass

  • River Adige

    • all settlements built on shores of lakes

  • Hornstaad Hornlie, Germany

    • on the edge of Lake Constance

    • evidence dates back to 6,000 ybp

    • 100 miles from the Iceman find

  • Castel Juval

    • a highly defensible site in the valley

  • Monte Lessini

    • hills here are rich in flint

    • flint was used for everything, from starting fires to making tools, and was traded widely by prehistoric peoples

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Individuals

  • "Ötzi"

  • Specialists:

    • Janet Levy -- archaeologist
    • Rainer Henn
    • Konrad Spindler
    • Laurence Barfield
      • prehistorian, expert on prehistoric flint
      • and Paleolithic life in Italy
    • Dietrich Ankner -- tin analysis in ax
    • Robert Hedges -- carbon 14 analysis
    • Dreiseitl Ekkenhard -- glacier specialist
    • Werner Platzer -- anatomist
    • Marcus Egg -- cultural expert, reconstruction, archaeologist
    • Sigmor Bortenslager -- botanist
    • Klaus Oeggl -- botanist, sloe berries
    • Bodo Dieckmann -- archaeologist

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Other Videos

  • The Iceman (97 min., 1998, VC 4327)

    "The discovery in the Alps of a 5300-year-old corpse, perfectly preserved by five millennia of ice, allowed a rare glimpse into the daily life of Stone Age man: his diet, his clothing, and way of life. This program follows scientists and archaeologists as they analyze his hair, clothing, and stomach to uncover clues to how our ancestors lived and died. The program offers a fascinating glimpse into one of the archaeological finds of the century."

 Otzi the Ice Man
 Ötzi—The Iceman --   South Tyrol Museum

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