What Ötzi the Iceman’s Tattoos Reveal About Copper Age Medical Practices
New study argues that the 5,300-year-old Iceman’s community boasted surprisingly advanced health care
By Meilan Solly
September 10, 2018 11:58AM
For someone who lived roughly 5,300 years ago, Ötzi the Iceman is in surprisingly good shape. His remains, found by a pair of German tourists during a routine hike through the Alps in 1991, were entombed in ice shortly after his death, and the glacial conditions unwittingly preserved much of his tissue, bones and organs. Three decades worth of research have yielded intimate details of Ötzi’s life from his age, height and weight to manner of death—felled by an arrow to the left shoulder sometime during early summer, but less is known about the Iceman’s Copper Age peers.
Now, a team of European researchers has analyzed the tattoos scattered across Ötzi’s body, as well as the various herbs and medicines found alongside his remains, to paint a clearer picture of the Iceman’s community and its ancient medical practices, reports Joshua Rapp Learn for Science magazine. The scientists’ findings, newly published in the International Journal of Paleopathology, suggest Ötzi belonged to a society with a surprisingly advanced health care system.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/what-otzi-icemans-tattoos-reveal-about-copper-age-medical-practices-180970244/
