Ötzi’
s
Last Meal
By Flora Ng
吳紫瑜
On
19 September 1991, a 5,300 year
old naturally preserved mummy was discovered
in the Ötzial Alps, near the Similaun Mountain
and Hauslabjoch on the Austrian-Italian border.
The mummy was named Ötzi after the location
of discover y and is the oldest and most well-
preserved prehistoric human ice mummy. Cold
temperatures, strong sunlight as well as dry winds
made sure that very little decomposition occurred.
Fo r nea r l y t wo decades , ba s i c compu te r
tomography (CT) scans and magnetic resonance
imag i ng (MR I ) we re the on l y techno l og i es
available for the analysis of his stomach contents.
Recently, however, scientists were able to learn
much more by examining Ötzi’s gastric residue,
now known as the “Iceman’s last meal”.
Previous analyses of Ötzi’s stomach content
revealed no storage of food, concluding that
he had not eaten prior to his death. However,
Albert Zink, along with fellows from the
Institute
fo r Mummi es and t he I ceman i n Bo l zano
,
Italy, conducted an axial CT scan of Ötzi and
discovered that the organ originally thought to
be his stomach was in fact his colon, and that the
actual stomach was pushed beneath his rib [1].
The food residue samples taken from his stomach
revealed critical information about the last few
hours of Ötzi’s life.
A large amount of Einkorn, a type of primitive
wheat abundant i n the Neol ith ic E ra (ci rca
10,200 BC to 4,500 BC), was found in the sample
that weighed only 0.004 ounces (1.134 mg).
This is in line with the hypothesis that during the
Neolithic Era, people lived in semi-permanent
settlements and survived on plant and animal
agriculture. The remnants of his last meal also
contained muscle fibres and small fragments of
burnt bones, identifiable under a light microscope
[2]. Researchers determined that these muscle
fibres most likely belonged to a wild mountain
goat known as an ibex. Ötzi’s gastric residue also
revealed the presence of pollen [3].
The implications of these findings confirm
several hypotheses. Due to the finding of pollen
in his stomach resid
mapped to be around pollination season, between
March and June. His last journey was made
through a coniferous forest to his final destination.
Additionally, contrary to previous beliefs, Ötzi’s rich
stomach contents revealed that his demise was
not preceded by an empty stomach indicating
starvation. In fact, he met his death in the form of
an arrow to the shoulder, just 30 – 120 minutes after
consuming his last meal.
The exciting discoveries of Ötzi’s stomach
content b r i dge t he d i sc i p l i nes of sc i ence
and histor y. These findings aid to por tray the
environment in which the Iceman lived and died.
While many facts may never be any more than
pure speculation, science and technology has
provided a better understanding of what life may
have been like for our ancestors in the Neolithic
Period.
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