February 11, 2012

Thomas Tartaron lecture on Ötzi the Iceman

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Hard to take these assertions too seriously when they can't even get the year right.

Clay said...

Thanks for posting the lecture.

anthrospain said...

At the time of this conference it was already known the Y-DNA of Ötzi.

Grey said...

I like the bark container idea.

Unknown said...

He ate red deer and ibex, neither are domesticated and because they were together it suggests a stew. These must have been hunted not farmed. He had mushrooms he had gathered. He ate a bread also, but the alps are not normally areas for grain farming so I doubt he was growing wheat or barley.

He was wearing goat, one piece of cow (shoe upper)and bear, but the garments made of goat seem to have been much repaired and patched. He clearly did not have a readily available supply of easily accessible goat skin despite his apparent status. He wasnt a shepherd.

My best guess is that he was a hunter with metal working skills (or vice versa). He went up to the mountains (most probably to hunt) and returned to the valley for a meal. He was attacked by at least 3 people that he saw coming. He defended himself with arrows then a knife before fleeing. He was shot in the back and the murderer thumped him on the head to make absolutely certain he was dead. Then the murderer tried to retrieve his arrow (presumably as a man's unique arrows were like a fingerprint), but the axe was left as anyone with it would be linked to the murder.

So it was a wrongful killing by someone he probably knew well. And there were people who would have punished the murderer for the killing if they found out (family most likely).

This looks like hunter-gatherer in fighting to me.

Unknown said...

Otzi was running short of arrows, so it makes sense that he scavenged some back.