Iceman dined on venison, cereals

THE last meal of a prehistoric hunter-warrior frozen in ice for 5,000 years was revealed by scientists yesterday.

DNA extracted from the body of the Tyrolean Iceman, also known as Otzi, showed that he dined on venison before being killed by an arrow.

Otzi’s naturally mummified body was discovered entombed in ice in the Italian Alps in 1991.

He had lain there for more than 5,000 years. Near the body researchers found leather and hide clothing and equipment, including a bow, a quiver full of arrows, and a copper axe.

Two years ago the corpse, now kept in cold storage at the South Tyrol Archaeological Museum in Bolzano, Italy, was fully defrosted for the first time.

Scientists collected DNA samples from the iceman’s gut to find out about his diet.

Yesterday they published results in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences revealing details about Otzi’s probable last two meals.

DNA from various plants, animals and fungi was obtained, most of which did not represent anything eaten. Much of the “background” DNA arose from spores of conifers and ferns which had got into the body. There were also signs of fungus which had probably grown after the body became entrapped in ice.

But the scientists, led by Franco Rollo at the University of Camerino in Italy, also found traces of game, edible plants, and wheat-type cereal which are thought to be the remains of meals.

They wrote: “The last journey of the warrior/hunter was made through a coniferous woodland at an intermediate altitude, where he possibly had a first meal, composed of cereals, other plant food, and ibex meat, and ended with his death in a rocky basin at over 3,200 metres above sea level, not before his having had a further meal based on red deer meat and, cereals.”

How Otzi was killed has been a matter of some debate. An arrowhead was found embedded in his left shoulder, which would not have killed him immediately. It was suggested that he may have been a victim of ritual sacrifice. The clothing and equipment found with him led archaeologists to suspect that he might have been a warrior of high rank, which fitted the theory.