http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/science/10/30/italy.iceman.ap/index.html
Study: Italian iceman stuck close to home
WASHINGTON (AP) --The mysterious 5,200-year-old iceman found in an
Alpine glacier was born in a valley in what is now northern Italy and
didn't travel far from home, an international team of researchers has
concluded.
Indeed, the iceman, known as Oetzi, probably spent his whole life within
about 37 miles (60 kilometers) of the spot near the Italy-Austria border
where he was found frozen, according to the team led by Wolfgang Mueller
of the Australian National University in Canberra.
Their findings are being reported Friday in the journal Science.
A group of hikers discovered Oetzi's well-preserved body in 1991; since
then, he and his clothing and tools have opened a window on the
previously little known world of copper-age Europe. Oetzi is currently
housed at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, Italy.
Mueller's team, which also includes researchers from the United States
and Switzerland, studied the forms of different elements in Oetzi's
teeth, bones and intestines and compared them with the types found in
water and soil in the region.
Elements such as oxygen and argon are found in different forms, called
isotopes, and by comparing the ratio of one isotope to another in body
tissue scientists can determine the source of the food or water the
person has been consuming. The researchers also looked at the isotopes
of strontium and lead in Oetzi.
The findings for tooth enamel can show what a person had been eating and
drinking as a child, while bone provides a a similar measure for adults.
In addition, the intestines give an indication of activities during a
person's final days.
Water in the area where Oetzi was found varies in oxygen isotope ratio
because rainfall to the north comes from the cooler and more distant
Atlantic Ocean, while that to the south comes from the warmer and closer
Mediterranean.
Analysis of Oetzi's tooth enamel indicates that between the ages of 3
and 5 he was drinking water with isotope ratios found only to the south
of where he was found frozen.
However, bone analysis of the isotope level ingested as an adult shows a
contribution from both northern and southern water sources, something
the researchers said could indicate migration into one or more of
several nearby valleys.
The isotope ratios for strontium and lead vary depending on the types of
rock and soil in an area. The scientists also analyzed the argon ratio
of bits of mica found in the intestine, believed to have been ingested
as a result of eating stone-ground grain.
Using this data, the team was able to rule out the region south of
Bolzano as home to Oetzi, saying instead that he more likely resided in
the Schnals or Etsch/Adige valley near Merano or the nearby Ulten,
middle Eisack or lower Puster valleys, between Bolzano and the Austrian
border.
"Our data indicate that the Iceman spent his entire life in the area
south of the discovery site" near the border between Italy and Austria,
the team concluded.
They noted that one location, Feldthurns, near Bressanone in the Eisack
valley, gives the closest match between local soils and Oetzi's tooth
enamel.
Earlier studies have indicated that Oetzi was between 25 and 40 when he
died, suffered from arthritis and had an arrowhead embedded in a
shoulder, probably the cause of death.
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press.
Stoney
"Designated Rascal and Rapscallion
and
SCAMPERMEISTER!"
When in doubt, SCAMPER about!
When things are fair, SCAMPER everywhere!
When things are rough, can't SCAMPER enough!
/end humour alert
alt.atheism military veteran #11
{so much for the 'no atheists in foxholes' rubbish}
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