How old is Otzi the iceman

Approximately 5000 years ago, a man set out to climb the Tyrolean Alps on the Austrian-Italian border. At death, he was between 40 and 50 years old and suffered from several medical ailments. Some scientists believe he was caught in a heavy snowfall, fell asleep, and froze to death. Others suppose he was murdered during his journey. Either way, his body was covered with snow almost immediately and, due to the freezing weather, rapidly became a mummy - The Iceman . In 1991, his body was re-exposed and discovered by climbers in the Otzal Alps, explaining why the Iceman , as he was called, was given the nickname Otzi (or, more commonly, as just Otzi). 

Scientific techniques, such as radiocarbon dating, applied to archaeology is sometimes termed archaeometry. 

But how, having defined the half-life h/2 as the time necessary for half of a substance to decay or disappear, can we quantitatively determine the time elapsing since Otzi died In Justification Box 8.4, we show how the half-life and the rate constant of decay k are related according to 

Equation (8.33) suggests the half-life is independent of the amount of material initially present, so radioactive decay follows the mathematics of first-order kinetics. 

Worked Example 8.15 A small portion of Otzi s clothing was removed and burnt carefully in pure oxygen. The amount of 14C was found to be 50.93 per cent of the amount expected if the naturally occurring fabric precursors had been freshly picked. How long is it since the crop of flax was picked, i.e. what is its age  

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