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Spindler could see that the body had been naturally mummified -- quickly dehydrated by icy winds or perhaps by the foehn, the warm, dry North African wind that sweeps across the Alps during winter. To prevent further damage, his team bathed the body in fungicide, wrapped it in a sterilized plastic sheet, covered it with chipped ice and moved it to a refrigerated room at the university. There, except for 30-minute intervals when it is removed for CAT scans and other scientific tests, the Iceman has been stored ever since at 98% humidity and -6 degrees C (21.2 degrees F), the glacial temperature he had grown accustomed to over more than 5,000 years.
A SEASONED OUTDOORSMAN
A broad portrait of the Iceman and his times is gradually emerging from the tests and observations. He was a fit man, between 25 and 35, about 1.6 m (5 ft. 2 in.) tall -- which was short even in his day -- and weighed around 50 kg (110 lbs.). Though his nose had been crushed and his upper lip folded by the weight of ice, it is clear that he had well-formed facial features that would not draw stares from contemporary Tyroleans. Says South Tyrolean archaeologist Hans Notdurfter: "He looks like one of our well-tanned ancestors."
An examination of his body revealed no sign of disease and no wounds beyond those that were inflicted during his exhumation. But scientists are still pondering the reason for the bluish tinge of his teeth, which were well worn, probably from a diet of milled grain products.
Though the mummified body was completely hairless, investigators have plucked about 1,000 curly brownish-black hairs from the recovered shreds of clothing. Those that came from the Iceman's head were only 9 cm (3 1/2 in.) long -- evidence that humans had been cutting their hair far earlier than anthropologists had believed. More mysterious were the well-defined tattoos: groups of blue parallel lines on the Iceman's lower spine, a cross behind the left knee and stripes on the right ankle. "Since all these tattoos were covered by clothing," says Spindler, "they must have had an inner meaning for the man and not have had the function of identification for other tribes." Some scientists suggest that the designs might have been used to mark the passage from youth to manhood. One fact is certain: until this discovery, it was thought that tattooing originated 2,500 years later.
The Iceman was well prepared for the Alpine chill. His basic garment was an unlined fur robe made of patches of deer, chamois and ibex skin. Though badly repaired at many points, the robe had been cleverly whipstitched together with threads of sinew or plant fiber, in what appears to be a mosaic-like pattern, belying the popular image of cavemen in crude skins. "The person who made the clothes initially was obviously skilled. This indicates that the Iceman was in some way integrated into a community," says prehistorian Egg, who is restoring the clothes at the Roman-Germanic Central Museum in Mainz, Germany. As for the repairs, made with grass thread, Egg says, "We assume he did them himself in the wilderness." Shredded during the Iceman's recovery, the garment arrived at Mainz in nearly a hundred pieces and with so many bits missing that Egg has doubts about ever fully determining the fashion of the times.