What was the last meal of Otzi the Iceman, a Chalcolithic hunter who keeled over in the chilly Italian Alps some 5,300 years ago?
According to a talk at the 7th World Congress on Mummy Studies in California, Otzi chowed down on the meat of an alpine ibex -- a wild goat that lives in the mountains of Europe -- half an hour to two hours before his death.
Otzi's naturally preserved body has offered a veritable goldmine of information on copper age Europeans since his discovery in 1991. He is the continent's oldest natural mummy, and was found alongside a bounty of ancient tools and kit.
Researchers have long known about some of Otzi's earlier meals. Based on fecal material removed from his bowels, we know he dined on red deer meet and possibly cereal in the hours leading up to his death. But much more recently, a team led by microbiologist Frank Maixner finally spotted Otzi's stomach when they reexamined tomography scans taken in 2005. The organ, which was strangely elevated in the iceman's body, was also rather full.
Maixner sequenced the DNA of the animal fibers found in Otzi's belly to confirm that the copper age hunter had been busy digesting ibex meat when he died.
Another talk at the Mummy Expo revealed that Otzi wasn't one for dental hygiene. 3D scans of the 35 to 40 year old's teeth revealed periodontal disease and various cavities, showing that the hunter dined on a rich carbohydrate diet, and that his gnashers would have been plagued by bacteria.
Geneticist Angela Graefen, of the Institute for Mummies and the Iceman, reported that her team has successfully sequenced the Iceman's entire DNA genome, despite heavy fragmentation to the nuclear DNA. The information will allow us to find out even more about the famous chap. The DNA already shows that Otzi probably had brown eyes.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
