Ötzi The Iceman: Unraveling The Reason Behind The Murder Of The 5,000-Year-Old Ice Mummy

Scientists have been researching who shot Ötzi the Iceman, who is one of the famous mummies in the world, in the Alps 5,000 years ago. He received a deadly arrow shot in the shoulder, which had been launched from a great distance and probably caught him by surprise.

So, what's the potential reason behind the killing of Ötzi? The shot in his left shoulder was found in 2001. In 2014, Chief Inspector Alexander Horn of the Munich Criminal Investigation was assigned by the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology to investigate the murder of Ötzi, wherein he used the latest criminological methods. The findings were presented at the International Mummy Congress in Bozen-Bolzano, Italy.

The Science Daily reports that Horn and his team interviewed the archaeologists who had been researching with Ötzi for years and with forensic medicine, radiology and anthropology experts. They also inspected the place where the Iceman had been first found.

The findings indicated that Ötzi seemed to have eaten a large meal and resting just before he was shot. This means he was not threatened just before receiving the shot. The evidence also showed that the attacker had been hiding not far away from Ötzi and he did not come out to prevent any fight. When Ötzi received the shot he fell right away. It caught him by surprise and there were no signs of further violence.

Phys.org reports that the motive for the killing is beyond theft as the copper ax of Ötzi remained at the crime scene. Alexander Horn explained that the reason for the murder of the Iceman is more likely a sort of personal conflict situation as in "a behavioral pattern which is dominant even today in the bulk of murder crimes.

Ötzi, who is also called Tyrolean Iceman, had been preserved as a glacier mummy. The researchers examined and investigated the mummy to discover elements about ancestry, health, diet and lifestyle and how the European ancestors lived 5,000 years ago.