Tyrolean Alps

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). 

Charcoal has been manufactured since prehistoric times. Around 5300 years ago, a hapless traveler perished in the Tyrolean Alps. Recently, when his body was recovered from a glacier, scientists found that he had been carrying a small box containing bits of charred wood wrapped in maple leaves. The man had no fire-starting tools such as flint with him, so it appears that he may have carried smoldering charcoal instead. 

Oetzi the Iceman (Figure 20.10) is a Neolithic hunter whose frozen remains were found in the Similaun Glacier on the Austrian/Italian border in the Tyrolean Alps. Analysis of the Iceman shows that for every 15.3 units of gC present at the time of his death, 8.1 remain today. How old is the Iceman ... 

Figure 20.10 Oetzi the Iceman. He was found in a glacier in the Tyrolean Alps near the Austrian/Italian border in 1991. He is believed to have lived in about 3300 B.C. He was so well preserved that scientists were able to examine the contents of his digestive system, finding that he was an omnivore. 

Ranger, A., Insam, H. 1996. Microbial activities and biomass along an altitudinal profile in the Northern Tyrolean Limestone Alps. Phyton. Ann. Rei Bot. 36 83-94. 

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