Otzi the Iceman – Part 2/4: Frozen Fritz’s Final Feast (ca. 3300 BC)

By: The Scribe on March, 2007

It seems that Europe’s oldest known mummy – Otzi the Iceman, or ‘Frozen Fritz’ – was so well preserved during his 5,300 year frozen stay inside an Alpine glacier, that scientists were able to analyze the contents of his stomach and determine exactly what Fritz ate for a final meal!

Evidence from his intestinal tract revealed that shortly before his death, Fritz probably ate venison and ibex meat, an unusually rich meal for a people who normally ate very small amounts of meat from rabbit, rat or squirrel. In fact, evidence shows that he ate two meals on his journey up the slopes: for his first meal, Fritz dined on the ibex meat as well as cereals and plants, and for his second – before his death at 3,200 metres above sea level – an unusual amount of deer.

Before the latest evidence, there were speculations that Otzi had been killed as a part of some ritual sacrifice, which may have explained why the diet of his final days was superior to that of the typical hominids of the time… however, it is now known that Otzi’s death was, perhaps, not of his own accord…