28 February 2011

The face of Ötzi the Iceman

As reported by Discovery News:
Brown-eyed, bearded, furrow faced, and tired: this is how Ötzi the Iceman might have looked, according to the latest reconstruction based on 20 years of research and investigations.

Realized by two Dutch experts, Alfons and Adrie Kennis, the model was produced with the latest in forensic mapping technology that uses three-dimensional images of the mummy's skull as well as infrared and tomographic images.

The new reconstruction shows a prematurely old man, with deep-set eyes, sunken cheeks, a furrowed face and ungroomed beard and hair.

Although he looks tired, Ötzi has vivid brown eyes. Indeed, recent research on the 5,300-year-old mummy has shown that the Stone Age man did not have blue eyes as previously thought.

Believed to have died around the age of 45, Ötzi was about 1.60 meters (5 foot, 3 inches) tall and weighed 50 kilograms (110 pounds).

2 comments:

  1. Great to see Ötzi come alive. What facinated me most about him (and there was so much to facinate) was the tattoos. I have no doubt that they represent acupuncture or acupressure points. It would make sense to tattoo these points as a visual reminder for him to self-treat when he could not access the local shaman or acupuncturist.

    There is an article about it
    here

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  2. Very interesting. Might be worth a separate blog post some time. Thank you, Judy.

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