The Iceman: Murdered in the Alps

By Michael D. Lemonick Monday, Aug. 18, 2003
    • When they first pulled his frozen body from a glacier on the Italy-Austria border in 1991, after some 5,300 years on ice, most experts thought the prehistoric hunter who came to be known as Otzi the Iceman had simply died of exposure. Then came the news two years ago that foul play was involved: an arrowhead embedded deep in his shoulder proved he had been shot from behind.

    Now the plot is thickening. Scientists announced last week that the Iceman was almost certainly murdered by several attackers — but not before putting up a hell of a fight. Moreover, he probably had a friend with him when it happened.

    That's at least a plausible explanation for several fresh clues that have emerged in the investigation at the South Tyrol Archaeology Museum in Bolzano, Italy. For one thing, a local medical examiner has determined that Otzi's torso was bruised and his hand badly cut, suggesting a fight at close quarters. For another, DNA analysis reveals that one of the arrows in his quiver is stained with the blood of several other people, which indicates he may well have shot his enemies and retrieved the arrow. And the friend? Someone else's blood left stains on the shoulders of Otzi's leather jacket in a pattern suggesting the Iceman might have been supporting a wounded companion as they tried to escape.

    It's not an airtight case: neither companion nor attackers have been found — not exactly a surprise in a case this old — and most of the evidence is circumstantial. But unless someone comes up with something more, this is the prosecutors' theory, and they're sticking with it.