Iceman Oetzi Bled to Death

Sept. 19, 2006 — Ötzi the Iceman, the world's oldest and best-preserved mummy, died in just a few minutes following the rupture of a major artery, a CT scan of the 5,300-year-old mummy has revealed.

Eduardo Egarter Vigl, Ötzi's official caretaker at the South Tyrol Archaeological Museum in Bolzano, where the mummy attracts around 300,000 visitors a year, told Discovery News that the Iceman died after an arrowhead hit his left subclavian artery.

This is a vital artery below the collar bone that arises from the aorta and branches to supply blood to the left arm.

The discovery was made thanks to a multislice CT scan, which allows the analysis of extremely thin tissue layers.

"We could detect a blood layer around the artery. A wound like that causes a hemorrhagic shock and a rapid death. According to this scenario, Ötzi died of blood loss just after the arrowhead hit him," Egarter told Discovery News.

The finding throws a new light on the reconstruction of Oetzi's final hours. The Iceman’s death has been the subject of much speculation since his frozen body was found in a melting glacier in the Ötztal Alps — hence the Ötzi name — 15 years ago.

Prior to the discovery in 2001 of an arrowhead in the mummy's left shoulder, researchers believed Ötzi died at about 45 from cold and hunger, or was the victim of a ritual sacrifice.

Further research following the discovery of the arrowhead established that the Iceman died after a violent encounter with his assailants, some of whose blood was found on his cloak and weapons.

It was believed that after the attack, Ötzi managed to flee up the mountain until he collapsed and died from blood loss, hunger, cold and weakness.

The discovery of the subclavian artery’s rupture draws a new scenario and backs a rival theory by Walter Leitner, an expert at the Institute for Ancient and Early History at the University of Innsbruck.

According to Leitner, a member of the team who studied the mummy when it was first transferred to the University of Innsbruck, Ötzi was assaulted not far from the Similaun Glacier where his mummified body was found.

"Indeed, with a wound like that he could have not taken another step," Egarter said.

He believes that the position of the mummy’s left arm is not a coincidence.

"He might have bent it in the effort to stop the hemorrhage or because of the acute pain," Egarter said.