Iceman's last meal included venison

WASHINGTON -- The Iceman, whose 5,000-year-old frozen mummy was discovered in the Alps in 1991, had last meals including venison and wild goat, a team of Italian scientists reports.

The researchers also joined the speculation over his death, suggesting he may have been killed in a dispute among hunters.

"We have analyzed the intestinal content and found compelling evidence that the Iceman was a high-ranked hunter," said Franco Rollo of the University of Camerino.

The Iceman, also known as Oetzi, had an empty stomach at the time of death, researchers found. But by analyzing the contents of his intestines, the team was able report on his final two meals.

Their study appears in today's issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Oetzi's body was found frozen in a mountain area, and pollen on the body indicated he had passed through a coniferous woodland on the way there, the researchers said.

'Remarkable' diet

During that trip he apparently ate the first of the two meals analyzed. That included meat from an ibex, a type of wild goat once common in the Alps, plus cereal grains and some type of plant food.

That was followed by a final meal including red deer meat and, possibly, more grains, the Italian team reported.

While other early people included rabbit, squirrel and even packrat in their diets, Oetzi's differed.

"We think, in this view, that it is somehow remarkable that Oetzi obtained his animal proteins from big game only. It adds to the idea that he occupied an elevated social position," Rollo said.

Kathleen Gordon, a physical anthropologist at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, said the findings add to the knowledge of Oetzi and his community -- showing that it was a mixed economy including both hunting and farming.

"This, I think, puts a nail in the coffin of the idea the Iceman was a vegetarian," added Gordon, who was not part of the research team. She is currently preparing an exhibit on the Iceman for the Natural History museum.

Oetzi's remains are in the South Tyrol Archaeological Museum in Bolzano, Italy. Two years ago, his body was temporarily thawed for researchers to take samples to study.

Killed by an arrow

While little is known about Oetzi himself, he was carrying a bow, a quiver of arrows and a copper ax, leading to speculation that he was a hunter or warrior.

"The finding of ibex and deer meat certainly strengthens" the likelihood that he was a hunter, the researchers said.

Last year, X-rays revealed that Oetzi was killed by an arrow, with the flint arrowhead remaining in his left shoulder. That has led to speculation ranging from death in battle to ritual killing.

In the new paper, the Italian team noted that previous studies have concluded that stone age hunters of deer and wild boar tended to aim their arrows at the animal's left shoulder blade as this gave them the best chance of killing with one shot.

"As the arrow that struck Oetzi actually pierced his left shoulder blade, it seems to us much more reasonable to assume that rather than of a ritual sacrifice, he had been the victim of some rivalry among big game hunters," the researchers say.