Ötzi - The Greatest Pre-Historic Murder Mystery
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ก.ย. 2024
- In this video I'm discussing the equipment (mainly the copper axe and various chert tools) that the "Iceman" carried with him when he was shot by an arrow in the mountains, and some of the circumstances of his demise.
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** Sources **
The Iceman’s lithic toolkit: Raw material, technology, typology and use
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Long-distance connections in the Copper Age: New evidence from the Alpine Iceman’s copper axe
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Ötzi's last meals
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Trade networks in Italy 5300 years ago
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His atherosclerosis and heart disease risk
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World's oldest blood cells
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As an (italian, incidentally) archaeologist, I must say that this is probably the single most astonishing archaeological discovery of the 20th century. We archaeologist spend our entire careers trying to reconstruct ancient societies from little scraps, and this is an entire man fron the copper age, with all of his gear preserved, telling us more than we will ever know about tons of stuff from prehistoric Europe. Simply amazing.
Mt Everest's death zone with 200 people in full climbing gear will be a goldmine for archaeologists if they are left in undisturbed.
@@JinKee By aliens????
My pappa trained as a vulcanologist, but his brother (my uncle) is palentologist, and their dad was an historian professor, so our family all has very strong interests in all ancient histories, including humankind. The discovery of Ötzi was made while my pappa was doing his doctorate in New Zealand (he is Swedish) studying the vulcanic cones of ancient volcanoes. He is usually very verbose in his writing, but he showed me his very funny journal entry from early oktober 1991 on the day where he learned of it in the news, and all he wrote was this:
"önskar att jag hade utbildad iarkeologi. dagens upptäckt kommer att förändra vår kunskap om forntida historia för alltid. jävla helvete."
Rough translation: "wish I'd taken archeology. today's discovery changes what we know about ancient history forever. f*cking hell."
I agree about the amazing preservation. But Lucy has to take the cake. For us to find an ancestor 3.2 million years old... just so profound. But this is my taste. For 21st century finds, sure the Dinaledi Chamber has been the greatest by far, and possibly of all time if you consider the magnitude of bones uncovered
@@sophroniel awesome story thanks for sharing!
Actually visited Ötzi recently. Cool guy, doesnt talk much though.
He used to be a pretty chilled out dude.
Gave you a cold shoulder, huh?
I wonder what his real name was
these puns are perfect.
I hear once you break the ice he’s a talkative little fellow
My favorite fact about otzi is his tattoos were over old healed over wounds and where he had arthritis. Suggesting his culture believed the tattoos to have some spiritual/medicinal properties
That or he was a gangster.
"Ötzi" or "Oetzi", but not "Otzi"
@@tubekulose the rest of the world doesn't have that o with dots above. so we just settle for the normal o for convenience.
@@BathalaBeril I know of course. That's why I wrote, that one can replace "o" with "oe". But "o" is totally wrong. Some time ago I wrote the following text on YT:
Not using Umlaute (Ä, Ö, Ü) both in pronuciation and written form can lead to massive missunderstandings.
E.g.:
Schlosser = locksmith BUT
Schlösser = palaces
Masten = masts BUT
mästen = to fatten
schwul = gay (homosexual) BUT
schwül = muggy
Bar = bar/pub BUT
Bär = bear
Dosen = cans/tins BUT
dösen = to doze
Schussel = scatterbrain BUT
Schüssel = bowl
schon = already BUT
schön = beautiful/handsome
etc.
So without the possibility to use "ä", "ö" or "ü" on your keyboard, use "ae", "oe" or "ue" as a substitute."
Best regards from Vienna, Austria
Or he just thought it looked cool and maybe wanted to commemorate events. I used to draw on my scars when I was bored in school.
Justice for Ötzi, i hope they manage to bring his murderers to justice!
😂
Just wait untill Ötzi's old racist tweets resurfaces, will you still be defending him?
@@martinh1309 Yes. Based and copperpilled.
@@unocualqu1era ugh, not this BS again.
Neolithic Lives Matter!
I have studied his gear. It is one heck of a find. It really shows you equipment as it was used and maintained for the time. His footwear is also very interesting. It was a multi-layer system with grass cushioning and a net sock like thing.
I always personally believed that he was in a fight, was pursued, they caught up to him and another fight occurred, got away again, then passed out, fell down, and died after that. His enemies either gave up after the second fight, or never found him again. It is really hard to say for sure, but that is what the evidence looks like to me.
Me too, or he was hit in the back with the arrow and fell down a ravine with half frozen water, where they couldn't get to him.
The state of his gear along with the wound in his hand followed by an arrow in the back has lead me to think that he was an attacker that was fought off and struck as he was retreating. To me, it explains why his gear was freshly sharpened (but on its last legs) and why he had a meal in preparation for the attack. The fact that he was trying to make a bow and ended up getting struck with an arrow also gives me the impression that he may have been trying to take the weapon that ended up killing him from someone else.
That’s what my history teacher told me when I asked. I honestly believe this theory over some of the other ones out there
With available evidence, it is really difficult to know if he was the aggressor in whatever conflict he was in, or the victim.
Jacob Ackley
No if he really was a attacker then he would have finished the bow first.
Otzi also seems to have killed two people with the same arrow shortly before his death according to hematological and DNA analysis. The blood of four other individuals was found on his clothing indicating that he was probably a skilled warrior, or possibly a raider/marauder. His axe also may have been recognizable to the surrounding villagers which might explain why it wasn't taken; or perhaps there were superstitious attitudes towards taking a fallen enemy's weapons.
yep
Otzi being the bad guy pretty much explains everything. It also explains his death as he was likely shot with an arrow and attempted to flee, died, and was never found again.
Satan maybe he was trepassing on their hunting territory , they got mad and attacked him , but everything we can do is guess what happened.
maybe he loss all his mens in the first fight (when he get cut in the hand) and run away, and was hunetd down after that.
or maybe there were more bodies and his wasn't found because he was behind a rock or something. I think this is more probable. We still find WW1 or medieval bodies from battlefields that no one ever found or touched.
It is something amazing how far science has come for us to predict what someone has done thousands of years ago only using his frozen body, stuff and surroundings.
And yet, my jetpack still isn't here!
You can get real jetpacks. Just google "Richard Browning real ironman suit".
It is amazing what information we can extract but most of the time we aren't this lucky.
Saberlaser Tiger c: I can predict what will happen to a specific species of Theropod.
Doesn't mean I'm right, does it?
And yet we still have no cure for the common cold
the guy who killed him propably didnt take the copperaxe because if they lived in the same town and came back with a such expansive item the other guys will propably be like "eyy doesnt that belong to that old guy with the knee problems?" and then he dun facked up
BLUE SKULL nice thinking dude
BLUE SKULL isnt that off a show, mummies alive
From what I've read researchers were able to determine that the attacker(s) were from a different area than Ötzi.
What town? I otzi seems to be a nomad like some kind of herder or something
I don't really thing that towns were popular back then, but a good thought.
im guessing they didn't take his stuff because of
A: superstition
B: unable to reach the body
C: he had something more valuable and they took that
d: they where already carrying lots of stuff
e: the axe would have been recognised as stolen
gonna go with A, his tattoos were over old injuries wich seems to suggest they were thought to have healing properties. if they believed things like that it's likely that they could believe he was cursed (or that he would haunt them if they stole from him)
There's also F: It was getting dark, and they had places to be and didn't have time to check for lootables
or they weren't interested in his stuff and killed him for other reasons
I wonder if maybe Otzi stole something and they were hunting him to get it back
Or he wasn't alone. Kind of B(2).
The stuff he had on him sounds like my inventory in most RPG's
He had no health potions though.
@@bestopinion9257 maybe he used them all trying to defeat the final boss and failed anyway
@@alanreed5475 Actually *using* your potions? Blasphemy!
I want a neolithic rpg now damnit
I was still in school and we were learning about the Egyptian mummies when they discovered Ötzi, and the next day I told my history teacher, Ötzi is so much cooler than Ramses. And he just said, absolutely. Ten degrees Celsius mimimum.
Mikosch2 that's such a teacher joke
10 degrees celsius minimummy.
Mikosch2
Ba dum tss
10 degrees isn't cold guys.
Mitch Williamson. 50F is a lot colder than Egypt's deserts.
set up a PHEMA club. Prehistorical European Martial Arts
id join
Considering the double meaning here, I can get behind it.
Cleverist comment seen i na while.. I smiled real good from that one.. :)
Imagine that. Clubs with pommels, what a time to be alive.
*foam padded rocks*
It's astounding how much we've learned from him, and to remember that he was a real dude.
Mike Tacos that's what strikes me as sad about this entire discovery. This guy was just that, a guy. A human. Like you and I. He lived a life, hard, but likely hearty, judging by how he ate. Hr may have made some enemies in his time, that finally caught up with him. And in hatred, or a desire for vengeance, or simple straight survival, they killed him. Or at least attempted to.
Otzi is the story of a survivor, who hit his last leg. A battle, maybe two fought, between him and attackers. He survived, but not for long. Poor fella.
I mean, i don't know his history. But i know he was human.
And for now, that's enough.
@@mr_h831 we don't know what crimes he did though, i mean it was an age of conflict and evolution of technology and so he has probably killed people too since his spear was resharpened twice and he had a copper axe which is i think for hunting and killing since he needs other tools to bring down trees.
@@magniwalterbutnotwaltermag1479 he could have just been hunting, or a warrior, he doesn't have to be a murderer
@@tacoscatsandmangos512 either way he himself is mostlikely responsible for deaths and we can basically say for certain that he was a victim of thievery, there could be many ways for him to be innocent but considering his gear which is mostly weaponry resharped such as spears and axes that are the right size for war, aswell as his coat thing, it is doubtful that he had not killed another person atleast in war
@@magniwalterbutnotwaltermag1479 Spears were used for hunting quite often. Even if it was for combat, warfare is one of the oldest parts of human life. Killing an enemy in combat is very different from murder. Enemy soldiers rarely feel any anger or hatred towards each other, they simply fight because they feel they must
Wow he was carrying a lot of stuff! He must have been playing Skyrim.
LOL that’s hilarious!
Headcanon: Ötzi was a follower to the Dragonborn, until he blocked a doorway one too many times and the Dragonborn took him somewhere without guards and shot him. He didn't take the copper axe because he already had a daedric one.
Lotta stamina upgrades
I find that highly unlikely, he wasn't carrying 17 full wheels of cheese.
He died because: you're carrying too much to be able to run and ice troll
I'm from Bozen, Südtirol, where Ötzi is being kept. Years ago, my father was friends with the then director of the Museum, and one day the director invited him to help him give Ötzi his regular "moisturising" treatment, and I, my brother and my mum got to watch. They picked Ötzi up (he's completely stiff) and placed him on a sort of operating table, then lightly sprayed him all over with a special solution designed to keep the body from drying out. It's quite difficult to mimic the exact climate he was found in, high in the glaciers, in a museum, which is why the body needs constant treatment.
It was a surreal experience.
Perhaps even more surreal is the fact that you can get Ötzi-shaped chocolate in the local gift shops.
Fun fact: the German hikers, who found him in the 90s, initially thought they'd found the body of a hiker or skier, and contacted the Carabinieri in Bozen (the Italian police). The Carabinieri were too lazy to go all the way up there, and since the body was only metres away from the border to Austria, they told the German couple to contact the Austrian police - who dutifully came and proceeded to bore Ötzi out of the ice using a pneumatic drill which shattered his hip and ripped the skin of his thigh open. Only when they realised what they were dealing with did they exercise more caution. Ötzi was brought to a Museum in Innsbruck, Austria, and when the Italians found out how monumental the discovery was, they were furious and demanded he be handed over to them. After a few years of bickering and feuding he was eventually handed over to Italy, and has been in Bozen ever since.
As ever, thanks for the great vid, Skall - 16 minutes of nostalgia for an expat Südtiroler like myself :-)
Wooos? Die Carpf worn echt za faul denzu houln? Dei gschicht hon i iaz a nit gwisst
When you have to take a body out of ice, but want to piss on the forensics lab.
"Ugh fucking hikers. CMON GUYS YANK HIM OUT! I WANNA BE HOME BY DINNER! We can tell the family he was injured from the fall."
@@freedomordeath89 What have germans to do with that?
@@obiwanfisher537 I dunno, ask them why they keep insulting us. Probably they feel that the Austrians are Germans like them so they side with the Austrians. Probably they got a superiority complex and think that everyone but Germany is lazy . Probably they do it to wash their conscience from all the destruction that they brought to Europe and probably to avoid facing the truth that even TODAY Germany is destroying Europe from inside due to their stupid economic policies, them inviting 1 million syrians to Italy despite US not wanting them, their banks destroying Greece and them exploiting the European Commission to exploit other countries.
Do I need to remember that WE EUROPEANS "forgive" ALL OF YOUR NATIONAL PUBLIC DEBT when you reunited East and West Germany' Do you REMEMBER THAT? RIGHT? We were SO KIND to FORGIVE all your debt. And what did you do in 2010 when Greece was in a SIMILAR situation (caused in part by GERMANY itself)?? THEY DID NOT FORGIVE THEM! THEY PUNISH THEM!
I LOVE GERMAN HYPOCRISY!
You have been the poorest country in Europe since 1945 but now you bully the others. Fuck you Germans. Everyone hates you and will keep going worse and worse.
13:04 as a med student, you will die faster from blood loss of a severed artery in your shoulder/pectoral artery than from small brain damage/concusion.
The arteries in the left pectoral/soulder area are pretty large and if severed by an arrow, then they would not only bleed but also bleed into the lungs. This combined with the lung being peirced, the guy would have suffered a pneumothorax, a hemothorax and severe blood loss, possibly a fully collapsed lung due to the hole.
The guy probably went down to shortness of breath and hypovolemia (blood loss) this can cause several cardiac issues including ventricular fibrillation and atrial fib/flutter. this would cause chest pain. The collapsed lung, hemo and pneumothorax would also cause shortness of breath and chest pain. A normal reflex is to hold one's chest. This is consistent with heart failure (Vfib, Vtac, Afib, Aflut) and the hemo/penumo tx.
Coupled with the cold. The guy probably fell not even an hour or two, tops 4 after the shot. After collapsing (1-4 hours after the arrow) he would have died in a matter of minutes.
What a way to go.
As a law student I can tell you it was murder
As a forensic anthropology stdent, im interested in his arthritis and see how all that physical movement effected his bones, specifically his thigh and shoulder bones.
Holding his chest could explain possibly why he landed on his arm like he did.
As a hired murderer, you are spot on.
One aspect of the Ice Man's gear that I think is wrong is when they think his bow was unfinished. Bows can be (and were) strung without nock grooves.
I always thought it was the arrows (several) that were unfinished? Either way he was going to finish later, so? The tinder fungus is cool but the axe takes the cake!
6:48 sympathizing with a guy thousands of years ago. Right in the heart
*Ötzi died while trying to lick his elbow*
Luxra this comment sould get you an award.
It gets the toughest of men
Good comment.
He died while dabbing on the haters.
madichelp0 when you dab so hard you get brain damage
The first time I found your channel (3 years ago), I was here for historical content. This video is really refreshing among the review and test videos. Thank you!
Let him create whatever content he wants you entitled twat lol
13:22 His un-looted face-down pose makes me think he survived his fight and escaped his attackers, but bled to death before he could get to anyone who could help. Probably fell down a ledge or crevasse, bashing his head along the way, and ended in that position. Either that or he was reduced to crawling desperately on his hands and knees, and just slumped down resting his head on his arm as he died.
But I have a question... that photo of him in the ice... he's butt naked. Where are all the clothes and supplies he's said to have had?
Kragatar bit delayed, but I would believe that they simply decayed away
RadicalHaloNova National Geographic, The History channel&The Discovery Channel have all displayed fragments of his footwear, some leather& fiber clothing & a cloak of woven wool& plant fiber, obviously suggesting his clothing was at least in part recovered.
I think that all the clothes that were found are under the ice on that foto.
Tomáš Zummer According to some other documentaries, his unfinished bow,arrows& quiver were later found together placed against a rock a few feet away& his grass filled footwear, bag of supplies as well as clothing fragments, knife,etc were indeed found underneath him frozen in the ice&snow that had encased him.
@@alaacon.1877 he was ambushed by ass bandits
I don’t think his attacker ever found him after he was ambushed. I think he was able to get away and he hit his head when he passed out after blood loss from the arrow wound. Nobody at that time would have left a very valuable copper axe behind.
Considering his clothes show blood of multiple people and he has defensive wounds he might have escaped a battle. Wounded men getting away from the area of fighting only to die some distance away happens to this day in war. Especially for men from a losing side trying to retreat.
One detail, though: the shaft of the arrow that killed him was nowhere to be found. Some have suggested that the killer removed it to prevent recognition. This would fit in with their not taking the axe: it would be obvious where they got it from...
@@Lucius1958 Maybe but it also could have simply been lost like most of his clothing over time.
The scenario with having recent wounds and traces of others blood leads to a plausible scenario. He was attacked and escaped for a few days but his assailants found/caught up to him, they struggled and then shot him possibly while he was fleeing. He probably would have tried pulling the arrow out after being hit leaving the tip stuck inside and then thrown the arrow shaft aside which is why it isn't near him. In his escape attempt he could have passed out from exhaustion and blood loss. The attackers were then unable to find his body to take his stuff.
He had very few remaining arrows, meaning he probably used them all in battle. I wouldn't be surprised if other bodies are still in the area.
1:45 "You could fill many hours of discussion with this [...]" You bet. I am actually amazed that they haven't made a film or series yet. Well made it would be very high on my watching list, and I bet of most of the folks that follow this channel.
there is a German movie telling Ötzis story (as an action drama, not a documentary), "Der Mann aus dem Eis", starring Jürgen Vogel as Ötzi.. It's pretty cool, lots of fighting action. Very little talking. When people do talk, it's some sort of reconstructed proto-indo-european. (So it's not problem to view a version in "German" language - there is no German spoken in it). I think I even watched here on youtube but I couldn't find it anymore. Here's a trailer and clips: th-cam.com/video/yl3-k3MLvTQ/w-d-xo.html
There's a film now about Otzi
Maybe he was an outlaw/thief. He got wounded while attacking and looting someone else (explains the unfinished bow and number of tools), and they chased him out of the town with arrows, hitting him once. He was able to get away but bled out and wasn't found again.
roberson644 I have a similar theory. Someone mentioned that he had the blood of 4 other people on his clothes. And that they weren't local. I doubt he was paliolithic rambo. More likely he ambushed someone, injured his hand, and the rest of their party found him.
This is pretty much the kinda scenario that popped to mind when the recent injuries were brought up. For assaillants to attack him randomly, him to escape for a day, and for them to later track him into the mountains seems like a weird spontaneous vendetta.
Rings a little truer that he did some shit, got hurt in the process, then got tracked down in vengeance.
His old tools and distance from his area seem to fit someone who was living a sketchy life away from his tribe, and you gotta wonder if & why they gave him the boot in the first place.
Yeah, this is kind of what I think. Ötzi was probably an outcast or something from a tribe, who went and robbed some other tribe and stole some food and tools including the axe. The axe is what makes me think it as it looks way too nice for an old bloke like him to have carried around. My guess is he got desperate, killed some younger guy and stole his tools and bow blank getting injured in the process, and then got caught by a couple of people. He shot them, then retreated, ate, and started climbing. After a day or so, a scout catches him and shoots ötzi before ötzi kills him. Ötzi flees, passes out from blood loss and dies, cold and alone.
That's a strong theory. Would explain why he was all alone and never found... because he used his last effort to get where nobody would catch him.
roberson644 This is a year later than these previous comments but even a year ago the forensic archaeologists knew he'd received a blow to the back of the head in addition to the arrow wound&knife wounds on his hands. Also that he at least evidently attempted to be prepared for his venture into the mountains. We can never know all the details of his last day but so much of the speculations voiced by commenters is unable to be confirmed now.
Interesting topic, isnt it? The Ötzi is one of the most important body found of this time period. Great vid Skal. Greetings from Mainz, Germany
Samuel Wüsten eyy a german hi from freising, bavaria :D
BLUE SKULL and from saxony too :D
LD ewww....
Just kidding😉. Greetings back to both of you.
god bless horst seehofer my friends
greatings from Schweinfurt, Bavaria :D
I haven't taken the time to watch in a while, and I have to say that was a fantastic ad plug at the end, Skall. Whatever struggles you've had with making ads palatable to both yourself and viewers, that plug was 100% the exact right way to do it. Channel that same creative spirit any time you're having trouble making it feel right. Excellent video as usual!
I love reading everyones ideas on what his life could have been like leading up to his death. I’ve found myself lost in thought the last 10 minutes imagining different scenarios regarding his life and final moments. What a great video!
To me the most convincing theory goes something like this:
Ötzi is a man of status, his axe makes that quite clear. He might have a large herd of animals or he might be some sort of shaman; in any case somebody wanted him dead. Maybe that somebody wanted his herd, maybe he wanted his wife or maybe Ötzi was just an arsehole. After this much time has passed we will never know.
The first confrontation that we know of leaves Ötzi with a gash in his hand, so he withdraws and tries to put some distance between himself and the assailants. Apparently he had to leave some of his stuff behind, a functioning bow being among the likely candidates for that.
There is a good case to be made that there was more than one attacker initially, but only one pursuing him later. Ötzi had blood on him that was not his own, but he still retreated with an injured hand, so it is quite likely that he killed or incapacitated at least one attacker but not enough to be confident about finishing the fight in spite of his injury. What happens after that supports the idea that his attackers were not too confident either (or this old man was just really nimble), so there might only be one guy left who had seen what Ötzi did to his friend(s).
This pursuer had a bow, maybe his own one or the one he took from Ötzi, and at one point during the pursuit he manages to land a good hit. But still, he was either not confident enough to _really_ close the distance or Ötzi was some sort of mountain ninja.
Ötzi had some time during his flight to try and cobble together a new bow from what he had left, but this arrow wound was pretty bad. The blood loss weakened him and the placement of the injury compounded with his earlier hand injury told him that using a bow with any poundage was no longer an option. So he needed a new plan. Probably he had seen that there was only one guy left and figured he could take him if he could convince him to come close enough for a knife fight. He did not want to be shot again, obviously.
So, an ambush it was. He re-sharpened his knife and placed most of his stuff at a location, on a rock or something, that would be well visible from his attacker's direction. The axe alone would be valuable enough to lure in any greedy person, but he probably wanted it to look like he had to leave all the heavy stuff behind or something like that. He covered himself with his grass mat and clutched his knife while lying on his belly with his left arm under his chin. There was some snowfall that would have hidden his postion before the pursuer arrived, but it also made it necessary to take a birch bark vessel with him, probably filled with hot coals to keep him from freezing.
There is a small chance that his pursuer once again caught up with him, recognised the trap for what it was and finished him (maybe with a blow to the head, explaining the possible brain damage) and then left without taking the axe (maybe because then people who knew Ötzi also knew who killed him). Other scenarios that explain why the axe was not taken require that the pursuer gave up, either because the snowfall became too much of a hindrance or because he was confident enough that the weather together with the wounds would finish the job. In this case Ötzi would have probably died in one of three ways while still waiting for the attacker to show himself:
1. He froze to death.
2. He bled to death.
3. His little hideout was enclosed enough that there was a deadly buildup of CO and CO2 from the hot coals.
Shizanketsuga I read a few years ago that with that artery severed he would't have ben consious for more than a few minutes.
However the rest (=the first 2 thirds) of your theory sounds pretty much like what the archeologists say is their best guess.
I can only recommend you to research this topic further.
As Skall said there are many very interresting facts and articles concerning ötzi.
nacht.valter Yep, I guess if the bleeding actually was _that_ bad he would not have had enough time to prepare his "last stand". If it was not there would at least be some sort of satisfying explanation for the positions of Ötzi and his stuff and the arrow missing from the wound. Maybe he even killed himself, in a way, by pulling out the arrow that would have revealed his position in the snow. It is not impossible for an arrow to plug at least part of a bleeding after all, and that would have extended his timeline a bit.
Every couple of years there are some snippets of information about Ötzi that answer some questions and reveal new ones. It really is a very interesting story, and sometimes it is just fun to try and puzzle all of it together. If we really want to know, I guess we have to get CSI: Ötztal on the case. :D
Shizanketsuga Yeah. I was fascinated since the first time I heard of him. At the time the arrowhead had not been discovered yet and he was mentioned in a childrens book about ice age europe that my mum read to me when I was six or seven years old.
Since then so much new facts have been discovered. That makes it truly a great mistery and a great Story to rerurn to from time to time and see if there's anything new.
Maybe it was such a strict taboo to take equipment from a dead person? It could be linked to their culture or beliefs.
Neue Ära
Finally found a comment saying this.
I think that most people nowadays underestimate how "magical" the ancient world was for its inhabitants.
Didn't want Ötzis ghost attaching itself to the axe and haunting him lol
It could also be (depending on his actual actions i.e if he was a bandit or a warrior) that people recognised his tools, and stealing them wouldn't be so good since people could tell it belonged to Ötzi
Ah this is fascinating. So I do a lot of bushcraft camping and when covid hit I spent 7 months in the highlands living as primitive as possible. All of these things he carried is kit we use today. I have used a 10,000 yr old stone hand axe to cut what i needed to build and, besides effort, these tools work fine. A flint blade is so so sharp it can rival many steel blades. A terrific find and brilliant for those craftspeople to study. Excellent video Sir, as always :)
I remember in middle school I did a report on Otzi, didn’t really realize then just how cool he was till this came around. Thanks!!
5:38 Expert Napper? Expert in taking naps?
Regarding the unlooted copper axe:
1) I'll take a wild guess and say the killing was not legitimate, so showing up in your village with a prized possession of a recently missing individual might raise questions.
2) On the off chance that the killing was rightful and known, looting would hardly help your claim on justice. Cultural/religious bias towards robbing the dead is prevalent, especially if the culprit committed something heinous.
Or they just couldn't find him. He died later from the blood loss caused by the arrow wound. I honestly think that is most likely.
You're coming off the assumption that the local society and culture was war-like. Your hypothesis would work for fully nomadic hunter-gatherers or for a raider culture. But Ötzi's society were just alpine shepherds, who, moreover, lived on a continental trade route. So I'll go and make the assumption that they didn't just kill each other on a daily basis (-of course, I might be wrong about that...)
Also, copper tools were somewhat rare, but not extremely rare, and Ötzi's axe was clearly not a weapon of war, so I have high doubts about him being a 'high prestige warrior.'
Ask who discovered antibiotics and they'll say Fleming. Well Otzi had a dose of antibiotics with him in the shape of beech fungus whose main active ingredient is antibiotics. It would not be as strong as modern antibiotics but should work to some degree. Antibiotics were used in many historical herbal medicines.
Alex Bowman Similar antibiotic bark was found with body of young neanderthal man.
Silver is also a weak antiviral. I'd put it on with rubbing alcohol or iodine on a wound to clean it for sure, and it might fight an infection. It's not the miracle drug the websites say it is, but it is immensely better than nothing.
I think the thing with Fleming is that, you know, he discovered that it really kills bacteria, not just the penicillin thingy
@@davidtrindle6473 The bark contains aspirin, not an antibiotic. so it was chewed for pain relief.
Ötzi/Oetzi* not otzi
Fun fact: Supposedly, research into Otzi's DNA and digestive system show he was lactose-intolerant.
In fact, his DNA suggests that ALL humans were lactose intolerant, until a specific genetic mutation as little as 6000-4000 years ago. Naturally, humans who can drink animal milk have a major advantage in early history, as dairy has many major health benefits, besides what the hipsters will have you think. ;)
It's ok though. We should just be glad we're more evolved than them, and can drink milk.
Jokes aside, it really is fascinating how an adaptation such as the ability to digest milk can spread to so many people in only 5000 years.
Source?
@@GeodesicBruh Use fucking google.
@@Vedlom That's not how fucking burden of evidence works! You make a statement, you prove it.
So the findings from ONE specimen suddenly 'proves' or suggests that such a thing is true for literally billions of others. Especially with no link or proof of study, yeah okay bud.
@@elitethotunit5038 Try finding it on your own first you entitled lazy imbecile.
Oldest known 'temple' in the world has received UNESCO heritage 2 weeks ago, known as Gobekli Tepe it is over 12,000 years old. Also next to it Catalhoyuk which is some of the oldest houses in history is 9500 years old and has bodies buried underneath the house complexes.
I was quite happy after hearing that news.
Its such a wonderful finding and very interesting. Catalhoyuk is also very interesting. Hope they put it also on the list for UNESCO heritage.
Catalhoyuk has been UNESCO for ages. I brought up the topic because well Iceman is ancient and I just wanted people to know how far we go back as a settled civilization although Gobekli Tepe was built by hunter gatherers which seems to throw a wrench into the history books of civilization only being 6000 years old at most. Seems our hunter gatherer ancestors were not hairy half starved idiots after all...
This time period was such a wondrous one. So much mystery. I would've loved to see people and how they lived back then.
I highly recommend visiting the Ötzi-Dorf (Ötzi-Village) in Pitztal (Pitz Valley, the Valley next to the name giving Ötz Valley). Great place with a reconstructed neolithic village.
Otzi was the third Bogdanoff brother, they eliminated him because he was an anarchist that opposed their new world order plan. Otzi died for our Freedom.
Damn stormcloak rebels
How can he die for our freedom when hes not american???
Quick run down
The black cube of Saturn is prolific
Some say he died for scotland
from what you said, it sounds to me like he was attacked, he fought back and wounded/killed attacker and then died from wounds. would explain why he wasnt looted.
I swear to god I’ve seen this guy on a New York subway.
Ötzi, not Skall
Thanks for the clarification
Really cool subject
Talking about his stuff feels like going through a survival game players inventory 😆
12 arrow shafts
apprentice level work knife
Pressure flake sharpener
This reminds me of the random remains (sometimes with loot) that you find in Bethesda games in random locations. If you pay attention to the terrain, objects, context, and other details like a detective you can usually figure out whose corpse it is and how they died.
Also, it's interesting how you mention how his bow and otfee equipment was a work in progress. They believe he may have been fleeing for his life, and had to procure weapons and tools as he fled.
the amazing thing is that they have found that his multiple tattoos are actual marking points for acupuncture, and they are the points for joint pain relief, and it appears he had arthritis. mind blown. the more you find about him the more amazing he becomes
*Ötzi was killed*
Me: ö
It looks like he ran away and died of his injuries. Very interesting video.
Probably fainted and rolled down the rock, thus the weird position of his arm.
Or as he fainted, he fell on all fours, then fell to his right side onto his arm.
I subscribe to that theory, as well. I believe anyone who was close to him at the time of death would have taken that axe. It would have been entirely too valuable to leave behind, regardless of any religious or social constraints.
I loved this episode! Those "discovery analyzation" videos are amazing.
I enjoy this pre-historical content. I hope you continue to do this type of video. Really fascinating!
If Otzi was ambushed, I wonder if bandits had stolen all his good equipment and so we can only find the bad gear now.
Visual_Vexing still has the copper axe which was pretty expensive at that time and definitely would count as good gear
Skall didnt even showed his full equipment. Ötzi had far more stuff with him. It is highly doubtful that much was stolen at least there is no evidence for it. Its also not 100% clear if he really died from that arrow.
I wonder if there might have been a running fight between two groups, which meant his killers weren't able to stop to loot his body.
I remember using the early internet to learn about an early publication that we ordered to the library for learnin' and lots of speculation! This discovery was super inspiring on so many levels.
These topics are very intriguing. I'm very very amazed how much archaeologist have deduced from just his body and tools. They even have a short timeline! I'm absolutely shocked and stunned. Do more on similar topics!
Really enjoyed this video. I found it extremely fascinating. Especially you're description of his kit.
@skallagrim, I am from southtyrol, and am verry happy that my favorite youtuber talks about Ötzi :)
Maybe they didn't take his stuff because they didn't want anyone to recognize them as the murderers. A copper axe in that time would have been very obvious.
EDIT. And removing the arrow shaft would make the killer harder to track as well.
Great and interesting presentation. You‘re conclusions about the circumstances of his death are by far much more reasonable than what i‘ve seen in „ scientific“ documentarys and articles !
finally, thank you for all the information. I would had liked to hear you talking more about his gear and tools , which seems to be your expertise.
When you just wanna smash that damn Guy with a rock but make him the best preserved human being found from your time...
They didn't loot him because they were at maximum carrying capacity and couldn't find the spot after fast travelling back later.
My first thought on why he wasn't looted for his gear is that it was nighttime and vision was limited, especially if there was a fight going on nearby. My second thought was that he'd escaped his pursuers, set his gear on the nearby ledge where he stopped, and then stumbled from blood loss and succumbed to his wounds. He had, from the several blood types found on his clothes and weapons, previously been involved in a running battle so having taken the time to sort his gear out on the ledge indicates he felt he was free from pursuit.
My theory is that he ran into some people from another group and got into a fight before escaping, several hours later the same group caught him off guard and shot an arrow in his shoulder. He fought back and ran away before passing out 1-4 hours later due to the artery hit. The other group probably gave up and decided to leave him alone after the second conflict so they didn't even know that they killed him
The human body produces cholesterol. It may have been inherent in who he was genetically. Again, Linus Pauling might be correct about vitamin C deficiency and I don't suppose citrus grows in the Alps. I'm not a doctor, can't properly say why he had cholesterol build up.
And maybe he was the winner and the other body has not been found.
Here in Kentucky Wood Sorrel is rich in vitamin C. It grows practically everywhere.
Maybe he just had a lot of milk rich in fat in his diet. He may have been a goat farmer or something.
While it is true that the body produce the great majority of cholesterol in blood, the buildup of atherosclerotic plaques in arteries depends on many different factors besides the sole quantity in blood.
There's an important genetic predisposition, but we don't have enough data on the population Oetsi was part of to tell (I think?)
But I think diet is really important in this case.
He lived in a mountain region, so little high-calories vegetables (he ate vegetables but they seems to be wild herbs mainly) and even less fruit, using meat and dairy as the primary calories intake means he ate a lot of animal fat and proteins, which are an important factor in atherosclerosis evolution.
Even if he worked and walked a lot (so physical exercise is not a problem), his diet was probably too poor with some nutrients and so rich with others for exercise to have an effect (although he could have reached his fairly old age precisely for this reason). All that plus a probably borderline severe Vitamin C deficency is a recipe for disaster.
No but pine needles do.. vit C is available in so many forms.. Brocolli and peppers have more Vit C than oranges or citrus..
"His equipment was well preserved." I know what you mean.
"something happened that prevented them from looting him."
Maybe a Snowstorm or something?
You are one of my favorite content providers, mostly because you pronounce 'etc.' correctly.
I remember hearing somewhere that metal weapons at that time were seen as spiritually powerful or magic or something. It’s possible they flipped him over for some reason to try to get their arrow back, but left his axe because they didn’t want to be cursed or smth. Or they left his axe because people would ask where they got such a fancy thing, but no one would ask why they had a recently repaired arrow.
I remember reading of a forgotten culture near Naquane that was famed for their axes, sadly the article was in german and i couldn t understand everything
Junichiro Yamashita send the article to me
Lord Markus im sorry i cannot find it anymore, i stumbled upon it under a comment of scholagladiatoria and i have been trying to find it since then
Junichiro Yamashita do you know the video at least?
Manuel Schurig nope sorry, he was talking about axes so i think it was the one about huscarls or one on the tabar, but it is better if i look for it in my screenshots
Junichiro Yamashita do that maybe I can give you more information then you have to know I'm German so the article should be no problem
He probably died whilst waiting for his videos to upload the neolithic internet speeds for blade reviewers were even worse than a 14.4Kbps modem. Just try getting a Hairy Mammoth to stand still long enough to test your spear on it, no wonder it snapped.
He probably died waiting for OP to deliver
So basically Australian internet speeds?
@@mankomamada2545 I was going to chime in and say "so basically the neolithic cave man has better speed than Australia."
he might also be a criminal or something and they were chasing him, would explain the multiple conflicts and maybe also why he wasn't looted, he might not have been alone as well.
Pedro Vanderlei
Doesnr explain why he wasnt looted
@@martinerhard8447 He wasn't looted becouse their religion an culture didn't allow it, people seriously underestimate how magical world was to people living so much time ago
SW PL
Nah bullshit. I am regulary in südtirol and already visited the oezi museum multiple times. They never said a thing that he wasnt looted because of that.
The experts think that he escaped
People underestimate how valuable a chopper axe was back then
Great vid Skall. I absolutely love your analysis, and would love to see more content like this in the future. Keep up the good work!!
I was always amazed by Ötzi. Very fascinating story and the equipment he had with him is just astounding.
"because the video is already rather long..." Oh Skall, you could make a 3 hour long video about him, if it were for me! Videos like that cannot be too long ;)
Could snow or ice build up have shifted his body? Perhaps that explains the odd position. Regardless, great video Skallagrim!
Snow and the glacier he was found in - his internal organs were squashed and flattened out from the pressure of the ice. That's why it took them a long time to find his stomach - it'd been "relocated."
just recently i watched the german production THE ICEMAN or "Der Mann aus dem Eis" with Jurgen Vogel playing the Ötzi! An amazing Movie I strongly recomend watching!!!
Now this is some atmospheric storytelling.
Remarkable is also Ötzi's bow. It was a 1.82m long bow made of Alpine yew, with a draw pull estimated between 150 and 166lbs (-15% if it was made of greenwood), that would have been classified as a pretty powerful warbow by the English archers of the 100 years war. Today only an handful of people is capable of drawing bows with that pull weight. Obviously, if the bow was unfinished, Ötzi could have reduced the draw pull by removing some further material, but several archery experts think that Ötzi's bow was perfectly functional the way it was (it had been deemed as unfinished for the absence of nocks on the bow tips, but many primitive bows hadn't nocks, and even those of the bows found on the Mary Rose were so shallow that the bows had been initially deemed as unfinished).
The amount of information we can derive from tiny signs of use is nothing short of fascinating.
Billy Berger and will Lord both are great flint knapping re sources on you tube. And great video !!
In regards to his attacker not looting his valuable axe; considering such a tool carried such value, one might recognise it if the murderer were to trade with it or posses it themselves. Perhaps this was a "hit" and in order to avoid being outed, the killer simply made sure he was dead and then left. Just a thought, super interesting vid as always man. I'm a new fan, and love your videos!
Here before Justin Y.
Devin Moorhead you fool o.O
BLUE SKULL someone has to poke the bear
Uh, alright
it should be impossible to be here before his highness *I DECLARE WITCHCRAFT*
Maybe the attacker was already at Max level or at a higher power level than the victim and felt as though his gear and weapons were garbage compared to the attackers daedric bow and dragonscale armor. Who knows??
Probably this. Never discount the likelihood of Daedric involvement.
In some recent papers it is theorized that Otzi was actually laid to rest in that place but did not die there. It had some pretty solid evidence
I worked a university Native American Archaeology chert-mine dig in MT in the 80s. (Yes, it was awesome.) That stuff got traded all the way from the Arctic Circle to the Cape. When you said Iceman ran out of chert, it about broke my heart. There was obviously a market where people could purchase flint or chert or obsidian, based on his wounds. He couldn't get ammo or first-aid.
"His 'Equipment' was exceptionally well preserved." - Skall -
... Yeah... dude took a lower body ice bath for a very long time. >)X^D
I'm by no means an expert on stone age man, but why do they always suggest stuff like this was a sacrifice or some other crap like that? It's like that story about that supposed Venus statue, everyone was convinced it was a household idol or something and then some guy came along and said "it's just a doll". I'm sure I'm misremembering some aspects of that story but that's the essence of it, we see these mysterious scenes and objects from the past and assume it's tied to some primitive belief system when it's probably, like most things, mundane. Somebody killed him, maybe he didn't like him, maybe he took some guy's shit, it's probably not anything special.
You can shoot someone in the heart with a 9mm and they can still run for two blocks without them being hopped up on drugs other then adrenaline. People have even survived being shot in the heart. (Quara has a great Q&A about that.) So he could have ran for quite some time with that shoulder wound. The most likely scenario is he was either a thief who got caught steeling (maybe the axe itself) or he was attacked for any number of other reasons, he got shot (hell ofa shot by the way to hit a moving target) while running away. They lost track of him and he fell and died. The position of the body could be indicative of a tumble from what I've read. With the most valuable thing he had still in his possession it's unlikely he was a victim of a robbery. Cool axe though. Thanks again Skall for another great video.
This man deserves a film.
Ötzi was lit boii
Nahh Ötzi kept shit really cool
Alastor Damb B Ötzi kinda icecold then fam he dont give no fux
wasnt as lit when they found him tho
had a bit of a frostbite. i think he'll be better soon
One thing I found fascinating is they were able to detect pollen from the food in his stomach from plants that would have grown at a much lower altitude, showing he probably transitioned from low to high altitudes fairly regularly and his last significant meal was consumed in the lower meadows.
Tbh surviving to be around 50 during that time period is pretty impressive as most people died young.
I was an iceage herdsman, then i took an arrow to the knee.
Guys I've wanted to get this off my chest for many, many years...
It was me... I killed Otzi. :(
I'm sorry...
“The greatest pre-historic murder mystery”
This implies that there are more. . . Right?
*ill leave now*
In all honestly, Ötzi was a badass before he bit the dust. Or, ice.
Not watched your channel in a while... Just... wandered on to different things. But this caught me eye and reminded me of the best things about skal. Well, year old now. But yeah, good stuff.
I LOVED this video!! Very interesting getting your input on this. I’d love it if you would do more videos around this era. Maybe the weapons and tools? (Like the atlatl, stone tools, bows, clothes, etc.)
Let's not joke here, we all know who killed him, a crazy Canadian with a TH-cam channel. THAT'S RIGHT! WOOLIE MADDEN FROM SUPERBESTFRIENDS
I'd say this is a testament to how dangerous fighting is/was back then with how cautious the attackers were. Think about it: him getting away from likely multiple attackers at least once.
It's so easy to get a fatal wound, infection, or a maiming that makes you a community burden. Otzi clearly made them be careful dealing with him.
My theory on the break away spears. Basically, it looks like a thrusting spear being so top heavy. I'd imagine it was used to hunt large game. It allows you to stab and get away from the animal quickly and also prevents the animal from being covered in spear shafts making it harder to approach.
I love these types of videos, They're absolutely Fantastic!!!
Thank you Skall, I enjoyed this video more than others on the same topic.
This type of vid might be a bit out of your ball park but I would love it if you made more of this kind.
Also, that knife looks really cool. Thanks for sharing.