Ötzi the Iceman's murder might have been recorded on stone, according to a carving on a Copper Age stele. Found in Laces, a town not far from the glacier in the Ötztal Alps where the 5,300-year-old mummy was discovered in 1991, the stone shows an human figure filled with carvings, Lorenzo Dal Ri, director of the archaeological office of the Bolzano province, told Discovery News. "The stele had long been unnoticed as it was used to build the altar of a church in Laces. One carving is especially interesting: it shows an archer ready to shoot an arrow on an unarmed man's back," said Dal Ri. This is exactly how Ötzi the Iceman was killed: hit by a flint arrow in the left shoulder while being assaulted by his enemies, some of whose blood was found on the mummy's cloak and weapons. According to Eduard Egarter Vigl, the official caretaker of the world's oldest and best-preserved mummy at the South Tyrol Archaeological Museum in Bolzano, which attracts around 300,000 visitors a year, Ötzi managed to flee up the mountain until he collapsed and was entombed in the Similaun Glacier's ice. Probably caught in a storm at 10,000 feet, the prehistoric man spent at least three days in excruciating pain before he died of blood loss, hunger, cold and weakness, said Egarter.

"The carving on the stele has an impressive resemblance with Ötzi's death. It is indeed a fascinating hypothesis, though we can't say for sure this is the picture of Ötzi's murder," Dal Ri said. The scholar has published the finding in a chapter of the book "The Chalcolithic Mummy. In Search of Immortality," in which various scientists detail the latest findings and the technologies used to preserve the mummy. According to Dal Ri, the stele needs further study, especially regarding its dating. "We know it dates from the Copper Age, Ötzi's time, but this is obviously not enough. We would need a much more precise dating," Dal Ri said. On display at the church Santa Maria sul Colle in Laces, the stele is however unique as it features one of the earliest artistic representations of a murder.

View: Full Article | Source: Discovery Channel