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…
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Tomorrow: Frozen Fritz’s fatal confrontation…!
By: The Scribe on March, 2007
Although the ancient footwear you see here may look uncomfortable, the truth is that these shoes were designed to outlast a near infinite amount of stress and wear – in fact, the ancient Europeans used these shoes to hike up the treacherous pathways of the Austrian alps… even past elevations of 10,500 feet.Europe’s oldest known mummy, Otzi the Iceman (or more affectionately known as ‘
Frozen Fritz’), was discovered in a glacier of the Otztal Alps between the Austrian and Italian border, and was quite literally still wearing his shoes.
These wide, waterproof shoes seem to have been designed specifically for walking across snow, and though some have speculated that they may have been used as the tops of snowshoes, this remains under debate. The outer layer of the shoes was made of deer and bearskin, while inside was sewn a tree-bark netting. To keep the feet warm, grass was placed around the foot, forming a kind of ‘ancient sock’. In fact, these shoes were even recreated and tested by a Czech shoe expert named Petr Hlavacek, who hiked up to 8,200 feet – more than 25 miles in frigid, mountainous Alpine conditions – and only stopped due to personal reasons of recent surgery! In fact, the shoes functioned so well – and so much better than modern outdoor footwear – that these 5,300 year old pieces of footwear are now being studied for commercial production.
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Tomorrow: The Iceman’s intestines reveal his final meal!
