Long before the days of modern humans existed a time we refer to as the Neolithic Age (also known as “The New Stone Age”). The Neolithic Age spanned from 4000 B.C.E. until 2200 B.C.E. and is the time in which only the Homo Sapien Sapiens lived. Due to the fact that the Homo Sapien Sapiens lived a less nomadic lifestyle, they outlived their Neanderthal counterparts during the Ice Age. The Homo Sapien Sapiens would then go on to live through the Mesolithic Age and into the Neolithic Age.
During the Neolithic Age, one very important development in human history began: agriculture. During the Neolithic Age, the Earth began to warm and the nomadic Homo Sapien Sapiens began to settle down. They began by building their villages with permanent structures. Along with these villages, they started to farm and practice agriculture. Two common crops to grow were barely and wheat. After these crops were grown, the grain was then taken and turned into either a tough bread or even alcohol! The Homo Sapien Sapiens also domesticated the first animals during the Neolithic era. It is speculated that the first ever animal to be domesticated was a goat, which would have been used to carry things around.
The Neolithic Age is also the time in which Otzi “The Iceman” lived. In 1991, Otzi was discovered in the Tyrolean Alps along the Tisenjoch pass of the Similaun glacier by German tourists named Helmut and Erika Simon. Otzi’s body was perfectly preserved in the ice. Found on the border between Italy and Austria, Otzi was at an altitude three thousand and two hundred meters above sea level (“Ötzi the Iceman.”)! According to the website Iceman.It, “Examination of the osteons (functional units of bone) in Otzi’s femur (thigh bone) put his likely age to be around 45. This was a good age considering the short life expectancy 5300 years ago” (iceman.it). He also appeared to have arthritis and parasites. Otzi’s body was covered in sixty-one tattoos. These tattoos are near his ribcage, lumbar spine, wrist, calves and ankles.
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All of the tattoos were either in the form of a line of a cross. The tattoos were not made with a needle however, unlike modern tattoos. They were put onto the skin by making a fine incision on the body and rubbing in pulverized charcoal. National Geographic had this to say on Otzi’s tattoos, “The result was a series of lines and crosses mostly located on parts of the body that are prone to injury or pain, such as the joints and along the back. This has led some researchers to believe that the tattoos marked acupuncture points” (news.nationalgeographic.com). This would be the oldest evidence of acupuncture therapy, placing the start of the practice two thousand years earlier than originally thought. It was not only Otzi’s body that was found in the Tyrolean Alps, but also over 400 artifacts. Otzi carried a backpack with him. Only a two-meter-long, u-shaped hazel rod and two 38-40-centimeter-long wooden boards are the surviving parts of his backpack. These pieces were most likely the frame, and either a hide sack or net were attached. His backpack was most likely used to carry firewood.
Otzi also had several weapons with him. These weapons included a copper axe, a longbow and arrows, and a flint dagger. The copper axe is the only one of its kind. Its blade is 99.7% pure copper and it has a sixty-centimeter-long yew knee haft. The blade is attached to the knee haft using birch tar and tightly bound leather straps. Researchers discovered that the copper used to make the axe didn’t come from the Alps but was mined in South Tuscany. The longbow, arrows, and Otzi’s quiver were also an important find. Otzi carried a 1.82-meter yew stave, which he was using his copper axes to turn the stave into a new longbow. All the stave needed to have done to it was be polished and have the bow string added. Experiments with models of the bow have found it could easily kill an animal or person from thirty to fifty meters away. Along with his other weapons, Otzi carried his flint dagger.
The dagger was only thirteen centimeters long and has a flint blade and ash wood handle. Its flint blade was no bigger than an arrow head, probably because it was often sharpened. On the side of sheath from the dagger was a leather eyelet. This was probably used to attach the dagger to a belt. Tests of the flint have shown that it came from an area east of Lake Garda called the Lessini Mountains. Anyone interested in seeing Otzi’s body and artifacts would need to travel all the way to Bolzano, Italy. Otzi and his belongings are on display at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology. At the museum they have three floors dedicated to the history of Otzi. The museum states on their website, “The exhibition covers the circumstances surrounding Ötzi’s accidental discovery on 19 September 1991, the international media response, the original finds themselves (the mummy together with his clothing and equipment), daily life in the Copper Age and multidisciplinary research carried out on the find of the century” (iceman.it).
On the ground floor museum, you can explore the story behind the discovery of Otzi and international media response. From there you can travel to the first floor and see how Otzi would have lived his day to day life. You can also view Otzi through a window and look into his refrigerated room. Finally, on the second floor you can experience and see the research that has been done since the discovery of the Iceman. Since the discovery of Otzi’s body, many discoveries have been made. As stated earlier, the discovery of Otzi changed when we believe the practice of acupuncture therapy began. If the tattoos on Otzi were related to acupuncture, it places the start of acupuncture two thousand years before we originally believed.
A study performed in 2012 by the European Academy of Bolzano/Bozen (EURAC) has also shown us that Otzi’s paternal genetic line is still present today (phys.org). How Otzi was frozen even preserved his blood cells and they retained the dimensions of modern-day blood samples. These samples provide much more information about Otzi than any of the shrunken cells in findings from before (exploringlifesmysteries.com). The Neolithic Age was a time of important human development. It greatly altered how life had been live before then. The discovery of Otzi is one of the most important discoveries in recent times. It opened doors into learning more about the Neolithic age and the people who lived during that time. His discovery changed how we view human history and brought fantastic new findings. Hopefully more discoveries like Otzi’s can be made to further expand our knowledge on the past.
