Probably the coolest mummy in the world – who was Ötzi?

Today Ötzi lives in a kind of ice box in the Archaeological Museum in Bozen. Every four to six weeks it is sprayed with water to maintain its protective layer of ice. Ötzi is thawed again and again – for examinations. This takes about 18 hours. When Ötzi was discovered by hikers in the early 1990s, he was over 5,000 years old. And thus much older than the mummies that had been discovered in Egypt.

Unlike the gang from Egypt, Ötzi is a so-called wet mummy. This means there is still water in his body and his organs are still more or less complete. That’s why researchers can even say what Ötzi ate last and draw conclusions about how he lived and what he did before he died.

Of course we can only smile wearily at the cockatoo. We grab our time machine again and visit Ötzi in the Copper Age. Lo and behold: Ötzi is not only the coolest mummy in the world, but also a trendsetter: he wore tattoos long before they became hip.

About 20 years ago, something new was found out about Ötzi. The poor man was murdered! There is an arrowhead stuck in his shoulder. But the exact circumstances of this crime are still unclear to this day. Who knows, maybe we’ll travel to Ötzi again soon and clear up the mystery.