Question | Answer |
In 1991, a pair of hikers in the Otztal Alps along the Austrian-Italian border discovered a man's body |
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The body was located extremely high up in the mountains at 10,500 ft |
| When the body was discovered, it was half-buried in the ice |
| Many mountaineers die in this area from falls and other accidents |
| The body had no hair, fingernails, or skin |
| Next to the body were bits of leather, string, and rolled-up birch bark |
| The body was missing its twelfth pair of ribs |
| Strangely the body had not been touched by predators like wolves or eagles |
| The body was covered with strange tattoos in the form of groups of lines and crosses |
| High levels of arsenic- a poisonous substance- were found in the hair from the body |
| The body had a number of fractured ribs at the time of death |
| The body was situated in a gully between two large walls of rock |
| Excavations uncovered a broken longbow and a bearskin cap |
| Of the two fingernails found, both showed he had suffered stressful illnesses leading up to his death |
| Analysis of Otzi's intestinal contents showed two meals, one of which was consumed about 2 hours before his death |
| In 2001, x-rays and a CT scan revealed the Otzi had an arrowhead lodged in his left shoulder when he died |
| Although the arrow remained in his back, the shaft was no where to be found |
| An ax was found with the body which appeared to be made of iron | |