Ötzi

This shows tattoo artist Danny Riday tattooing his own leg using a bone awl made from white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). This variety of puncture tattooing, colloquially known as "hand poke" or "stick and poke" tattooing, involves the use of a sharp implement either held directly in the hand or hafted to the end of a handle. Credit: European Journal of Archaeology (2024). DOI: 10.1017/eaa.2024.5 An international team…

Image: SN Saleem, SA Seddik, M el-HalwagyA group of scientists CT-scanned the sarcophagus of a 2,300-year-old mummified boy. Their work revealed details of the “golden” boy’s health before he died, along with amulets wrapped in his linens. “This mummy’s body was extensively decorated with 49 amulets, beautifully stylized in a unique arrangement of three columns between the folds of the wrappings and inside the mummy’s body cavity,” said researcher Sahar Saleem. “Their purpose was to protect the body and give it vitality…

Ötzi, a 5,300-year-old mummy discovered in 1991.Photo: Andrea Solero/AFP (Getty Images)In 1991, a pair of climbers encountered a human body sticking out of the ice high in the Italian alps. Though its skin was preserved—complete with tattoos—the body turned out to be 5,300-year-old remains, mummified by the frigid, dry conditions in which the man died. Now known as Ötzi, the famously well-preserved mummy has given researchers a remarkable look into the life of a Stone Age person.Watch an Exclusive Clip From the Finale of…

Above: Plan of the Ötzi find spot. Shown on the map of the excavation are the mummy with a flint dagger at the hip; a fur hat at the foot of the boulder where he lay; a quiver (upper left); and a bow, an ax and a backpack frame (lower left). Due to the activity of visitors to the site after the discovery and before the excavation, the position of the ax and backpack frame may be imprecise (Rastbichler Zissernig, 2006). Below: Profile section of the find…