On our first rainy day in 2 weeks, we took the opportunity to have a day out at Bolzano and go to the museum there that houses the remains of the 5000 year old mummy that was found on a nearby glacier in 1991. We had seen various documentaries on him over the years, so knew quite a bit, but as they are still studying the body and his belongings, information is constantly changing as ever more sophisticated analysis reveals more of the truth.
The museum houses the mummy in a tightly controlled environment that mimics the conditions in which he was found, and also displays most of the artefacts found with him – wolfskin cap (originally thought to be a bear skin), amazing leggings and other clothes neatly stitched with sinews and arrows, dagger and fungus tinder that had all been preserved in the ice.
There was a brilliant piece of technology that was a full size screen showing the body and as you moved a rectangle by touch screen, it magnified that part of the body – but you could choose whether to see skin, bone, muscle, etc at any particular point and magnify any piece even more – stunning and presumably can be used by the medical profession to look at live bodies in that way too. It has, of course, given the scientists a fantastic view into the life of man at that time, surprisingly with very similar diseases and problems to today.
One major find, after few years, was that he was actually murdered, with the arrow tip still in his shoulder – why and what his original purpose was still remains a mystery, but with many conjectures. Several scientific teams around the world are still working to find the answers.
There was also one floor given over to the media treatment over the years and showing the worldwide interest and souvenir industry grown up around Otzi – there are various museums dealing with aspects of the find and tours of the mountain area where he was found. The website of the museum and further info is www.iceman.it
Well worth a visit if you are in Northern Italy.
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