Today in History
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Today in History |
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September 19, 1991 |
On September 19, 1991, two German tourists were hiking through the Otztal Alps on the border between Austria and Italy. In a receding glacier, the couple spotted the body of a man. They contacted authorities who assumed the corpse to be of recent origin. Onlookers touched the body and in some instances actually removed pieces of clothing, contaminating the find. In a morgue in Innsbruck, the true nature of the discovery was learned. Current estimates are that "Otzi" was approximately 45 years of age at his death more than 5,000 years ago and stood approximately 5 foot 5 inches tall. His body had approximately 60 tattoos. His clothing was well-constructed, made of woven grass and his shoes from leather. He had with him a copper axe, a flint knife, and a bow and arrows. The cause of death is uncertain, but an x-ray revealed an arrowhead in one of his shoulders. It also appeared he had been struck on the head. The body is now on display at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, Italy
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